Therapist staffing coverage at nursing homes fell up to 10% after the October 2019 implementation of a new Medicare payment model, a new study has determined — with the cuts coming primarily on the backs of contracted employees and not full-time skilled nursing facility staffers. Physical and occupational therapist staffing was 6% lower in the […]
Category: Medicare
When the overhaul of Medicare Part A reimbursement for nursing homes took effect in October 2019, predictions of audits and the potential for drastic changes came close on its heels. After all, the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) was meant to be revenue-neutral, meaning that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would not spend […]
The widespread embrace and expansion of telehealth may go down as one of the top long-term positive developments to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a pair of tech players in the nursing home space this week announced a new partnership aimed at building on that momentum. Telemedicine provider and primary care practice TapestryHealth […]
Whether or not home health providers can maintain the volume they siphoned away from skilled nursing facilities during the pandemic has emerged as a top question for policymakers and financial analysts alike. A permanent shift from SNF to home could portend financial and operational chaos for a sector already battered by COVID-19, the thinking goes, […]
The Biden administration is leaning toward the selection of former federal health official and current Manatt Health managing director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure for the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Politico reported this week. Brooks-LaSure held posts at CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under President Obama, with […]
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has left its new Medicare payment system for nursing homes virtually unchanged since the original rollout in October 2019 — but that doesn’t mean operators and investors should assume the status quo will last forever. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and its […]
The new Biden administration has tapped Liz Richter to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on an interim basis during the presidential transition. The agency’s website currently lists Richter, who has worked at CMS in various capacities since 1990, as acting administrator. She succeeds outgoing administrator Seema Verma, who on Wednesday resigned […]
When I was 23 years old, my mother died unexpectedly of a massive stroke in her sleep. She was only 62, and there was no warning. One day we were talking on the phone about Christmas plans, and the next I was giving a police officer permission to break into my childhood home for a […]
An accountable care organization (ACO) backed by one of the nation’s largest nursing home providers on Tuesday announced a deal to expand telehealth services to its members in a push to cut hospitalizations and boost clinical coverage — during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the new agreement, the skilled nursing tech provider Third Eye […]
Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, submitted her official resignation on January 14, ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20 — and touted the agency’s work with nursing homes, particularly amid the COVID-19 public health emergency. “As the Trump Administration comes to a close, I […]
The U.S. regulatory process for skilled nursing facilities needs to be overhauled to focus on outcomes, Seema Verma, the outgoing administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), argued in an opinion piece published January 8. “Despite nursing homes receiving infection control guidance, government-funded testing, training, supplies, staffing, and over $7 billion in […]
The proportion of skilled nursing facilities that earned incentive bonuses under an alternative Medicare payment model dropped in fiscal 2020, with the vast majority of properties either losing money or breaking even. Sixty-five percent of SNFs saw negative adjustments under the SNF Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program, according to a new analysis published this week in […]
The new spending bill passed by Congress on Monday night, which includes $900 billion in COVID-19 relief, also contains some respite for cuts to Medicare Part B that posed a significant threat to therapy operations in skilled nursing facilities. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 is now awaiting President Trump’s signature, and it includes a […]
Each year, Skilled Nursing News uses the end of December to look back on the stories that shaped the previous 12 months. In the past, the exercise has occasionally revealed a few forgotten surprises from the year that was, though SNN’s lists of most-read stories often have a recurring theme. For the past two years, […]
The growth in U.S. spending on nursing home care lagged behind gains in overall health expenditures — as well as the increase in cash spent on care at home and in hospitals — according to the most recent update to an annual analysis of American health care costs. The United States spent a collective $172.2 […]
The federal government on Wednesday announced an expansion of the third phase of COVID-19 relief for health care providers, specifically releasing an extra $1.1 billion to nursing homes. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decided to boost its Phase 3 funding total from $20 billion to $24 billion after determining that the initial […]
When Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL) and health system ProMedica teamed up to take over nursing home giant HCR ManorCare in 2018, the players positioned the move as a way to vertically integrate a continuum that could follow a patient from the hospital, to a skilled nursing facility, to home health. The real estate investment trust […]
The federal government last week advised nursing homes that a variety of COVID-related freezes on updates to the public Nursing Home Compare database will end soon after the start of the new year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 27 will update quality and health inspection metrics on the consumer-facing resource, […]
President-elect Joe Biden has selected Xavier Becerra, the current attorney general of California and a critic of President Trump’s nursing home policies, to helm the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the incoming administration, the New York Times reported Sunday. Prior to serving as California’s top prosecutor, Becerra represented the Los Angeles area […]
California emerged as an early COVID-19 hotspot when the coronavirus first emerged in the U.S., and for skilled nursing facilities in the Golden State, the pandemic hit particularly hard. As a result, local health officials at both the state and county levels were looking for ways to combat the anticipated need — and they turned […]