The federal government in late December released draft updates to a key set of paperwork for nursing home staff, revealing a potential change ahead for 2020 and beyond. The Minimum Data Set (MDS) will no longer include Section G, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in late December. “Please note that Section […]
Category: Medicare
For the skilled nursing profession, 2019 will be synonymous with the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), and the top stories of the year reflect the importance of this shift. But PDPM is one of many moving parts in the skilled nursing world, and operators, landlords, and regulators alike made splashes in ways that had nothing to […]
Increasing demand for skilled nursing services is a good sign for the industry, according to several experts who spoke on SNN’s annual outlook webinar, but a continued squeeze on margins may affect some facilities’ ability to keep their doors open in 2020. Although the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) looks like good news, with increased reimbursements […]
In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, the new Medicare payment model for nursing homes dominated the list of most-read stories on Skilled Nursing News in 2019. But the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), for all its impact on the post-acute and long-term care space over the last 12 months, wasn’t the only story […]
As we prepare to close the door on the 2010s, we’re also about to say goodbye to a year that probably felt like a full decade for operators and investors in the post-acute and long-term care space. With a new Medicare payment model, continued Medicaid pressures, and a raft of regulatory attention from Washington, D.C., […]
Genesis HealthCare (NYSE: GEN) has made expanding its accountable care organization (ACO) a major growth goal for the coming decade, and the post-acute and long-term care giant ended the year by announcing close to 200 new additions — all from outside of the company. The Kennett Square, Pa.-based Genesis late Monday disclosed that it had […]
Lenders who offer Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loans consider skilled nursing financing to be a long-term relationship, so choosing clients carefully — and thinking about deals as partnerships for the long haul — is crucial for good-decision making. Because the federal government backs these products, which feature low interest rates and a […]
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) once again advised that Medicare’s payments for skilled nursing facilities are too high — but also acknowledged the challenges for providers caused by low Medicaid reimbursement. A presentation by Dr. Carol Carter delivered to MedPAC on December 5 examined Medicare margins for SNFs amid the larger contexts of beneficiary […]
The federal government on Tuesday announced a civil lawsuit against long-term care pharmacy heavyweight Omnicare, Inc. and its parent, CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), over allegations of widespread billing fraud. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) watchdog arm, accused Omnicare and CVS of illegally “rolling over” […]
Texas came in last place on a recent ranking of nursing home quality, an outcome that highlights the potential for overdevelopment in the Lone Star State. Based on the percentage of certified nursing home beds at four-and five-star facilities, Texas sat last at 51 on the consumer-finance website WalletHub’s list of states — and the […]
Skilled nursing operators, increasingly fed up with demands for lower lengths of stay from their managed insurance partners — with little to no savings to show for it — have moved to seize control of the premium dollar by becoming insurance entities themselves. The primary way they can do this, launching a certain subset of […]
Occupancy at the nation’s nursing homes stayed flat between the most recent two quarters, but the proportion of residents covered under Medicaid hit a record high — while the share of bread-and-butter Medicare residents fell to a record low. Medicaid accounted for exactly two-thirds, or 67.6%, of resident days at nursing facilities in the third […]
More than 40% of skilled nursing facility operators and vendors have laid off therapy staff amid the shift to a new Medicare payment model, a recent Skilled Nursing News poll found, but more staff cuts may not be part of their plans for the new year. When asked if they planned on laying off therapy […]
When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) moved to allow Medicare Advantage plans to cover more options for care at home, skilled nursing providers could be forgiven for not paying much attention. It’s a move with more immediate impact to home care and home health companies, as well as senior living providers. Medicare […]
The new Medicare payment model for nursing homes has brought significant upheaval around therapy provision — an outcome that one prominent CEO in the space says therapy companies should have seen coming sooner. Given all of the warning signs from Washington and Baltimore — dating back to when the federal government was planning on implementing […]
News of therapy layoffs swept through the skilled nursing industry in the weeks after the implementation of the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), and a new poll from Skilled Nursing News finds that more than 40% of operators and therapy vendors have made some kind of staffing reductions post-October 1. A little more than 43% of […]
Total spending on health care in the United States increased by 4.6% in 2018, a faster rate than the previous year — but at the same time, nursing homes and other post-acute care settings saw spending growth slow down from 2017. All payer sources laid out a total of $168.5 billion on care at nursing […]
A greater percentage of skilled nursing facilities will receive Medicare payment cuts under a key value-based payment model in fiscal year 2020, according to a new set of government data. Of the more than 12,000 nursing homes nationwide that reported sufficient data, 77% — or 9,878 — will receive some kind of reimbursement reduction related […]
Thirty nursing homes in the state of Washington will benefit from a federal program that injects penalty recoveries back into initiatives that boost nursing home quality — and the ramifications of the funding could go well beyond the facilities in that one state. The grant, totaling more than $644,000, comes from the Centers for Medicare […]
Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have reduced spending by $3.53 billion from 2013 to 2017, and after accounting for shared savings bonuses, saved the federal government $755 million. That’s according to a new evaluation by the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Dobson DaVanzo & Associates, conducted on behalf of the National Association of ACOs (NAACOS), which represents […]