Parkinson: Test Nursing Home Staff Weekly Even if Not Required, Develop a Compliance Plan by Next Week

The leader of the largest trade group for U.S. nursing homes on Thursday advised operators to exceed new federal COVID-19 testing mandates whenever possible, while emphasizing the importance of planning for complying with the new regulations as soon as next week. “I would be testing, once a week, all staff. I would be doing that […]

CMS Targets Infection Control in New Nursing Home Training Program

A few weeks after the nation’s top Medicare official pointed to persistent infection control problems as a major driver of rising COVID-19 cases in nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Tuesday introduced new online training resources for frontline staffers and management. Officials based the new “CMS Targeted COVID-19 Training for […]

CMS to Resume Routine Nursing Home Inspections After COVID Suspension

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on Monday that routine inspections for all Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers will resume, after suspending them as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March. The agency directed the resumption of onsite revisit surveys, non-immediate jeopardy complaint surveys and annual recertification surveys […]

CMS Touts $15M in Nursing Home Fines Amid COVID-19 as Infection Citations Triple

The federal government on Friday announced that it has handed out $15 million in civil monetary penalties (CMPs) to about 3,400 nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. That total includes about $10 million in fines stemming from targeted infection control surveys, and $5.5 million assessed to operators that failed to report COVID-19 data as required […]

Inside the Latest $5B in HHS Aid for Nursing Homes: Value-Based Competition, Stricter Testing Mandates

The federal government’s latest targeted coronavirus aid for nursing homes will consist of four separate programs, with a significant portion of the $5 billion price tag doled out based on operators’ performance in monthly value-based competitions. Of that pledged total, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will distribute half — or $2.5 billion […]

Sabra’s Surging Medicare Mix Helps Offset Skilled Nursing Occupancy Drops During COVID-19

Occupancy at Sabra Health Care REIT’s (Nasdaq: SBRA) skilled nursing facilities tumbled 811 basis points since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but executives remained upbeat about the shift toward Medicare-funded services — even if the rafts of federal relief cash muddy the overall valuation picture. That census decline sits slightly higher than other industry […]

CMS Proposes 9% Cut to Medicare Therapy Rates, Threatening PT, OT, Speech Services in Nursing Homes

The federal government is proposing a range of reductions to Medicare reimbursement for various Part B therapy services as part of its Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for the calendar year 2021, including physical, occupational and speech-language services in skilled nursing facilities. The fee schedule was announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) […]

CMS Finalizes $750M Medicare Payment Boost for Nursing Homes in Fiscal 2021

The federal government on Friday finalized a previously proposed rule that will bring a 2.2% Medicare payment bump to the nation’s skilled nursing facilities. Under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2021 payment rule, facilities will see a total increase of $750 million in Medicare reimbursements over the next fiscal year, which begins […]

Home Health Heavyweight Encompass Sees Potential to Replace Skilled Nursing with IRFs Post-COVID

Widespread outbreaks of COVID-19 at skilled nursing facilities have increased calls to accelerate the shift to in-home care whenever possible, but one major home health provider took things a step further by floating the potential for replacing SNF care with stays at inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs). Speaking on the company’s second-quarter earnings call this week, […]

HHS to Send Additional $5B to Nursing Homes, Increase Staff Testing Requirements in Hotspots

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be sending $5 billion to all skilled nursing facilities in the U.S, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday. “Nursing homes in higher risk areas will be receiving more funding,” Trump said in his coronavirus briefing on Wednesday. “This money can be used to address critical needs, […]

Verma: CMS Wants to Partner with Nursing Homes, ‘Move Away’ from Focusing on Fines

The federal government’s top Medicare official this week emphasized a desire to work closely with leaders in the nursing home landscape, pointing to industry feedback as a key driver behind a sweeping plan to send point-of-care COVID-19 testing units to the nation’s nursing facilities. “CMS obviously has a regulatory function with nursing homes,” Centers for […]

Operators Greet Nursing Home COVID Testing Initiative with Cautious Optimism, Pointed Questions

One day after the federal government announced an ambitious plan to send point-of-care testing units for COVID-19 to all of the nation’s more than 15,000 nursing homes, leaders in the space expressed cautious optimism — while often emphasizing that they have more questions than firm answers. Starting next week, the Department of Health and Human […]

Federal Government Will Send Point-of-Care COVID-19 Testing Units, Kits to All Nursing Homes in U.S. [Updated]

UPDATE, July 15: CMS and HHS on Wednesday provided more information about the initial roll-out of this program. Click here for the latest. The federal government on Tuesday announced that it would send point-of-care testing supplies for COVID-19 to all skilled nursing facilities in the country, starting next week, according to Admiral Brett Giroir, Assistant […]

Longwood Management, Affiliates to Pay $16.7M in False Claims Act Settlement Over Rehab Services

Longwood Management Corporation, along with 27 individual affiliated skilled nursing facilities, will pay $16.7 million to settle federal allegations of rehabilitation billing fraud, the Department of Justice announced Monday. The government accused the Los Angeles-based firm of pressuring therapists to hit predetermined targets for rehab minutes under the Ultra High category, which provided the greatest […]