Skilled nursing facilities are in for a short-term reprieve if a proposal to reduce some bundled payments by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is finalized, according to a recent Fitch Ratings report. CMS proposed reducing some bundled payment models and canceling mandatory programs yet to be implemented. The move, while largely unsurprising given the current […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday announced an emergency suspension of Medicare quality reporting requirements for skilled nursing and other health care facilities affected by Hurricane Harvey. Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) located in 32 Texas counties and five Louisiana parishes will be automatically granted exceptions for submitting Quality Reporting Program data […]
With three years of data for accountable care organizations (ACOs), the shared savings program from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has demonstrated the potential to cut down on care costs. And the savings are frequently coming from skilled nursing facility (SNF) care, according to a recent report from the Office of Inspector General […]
Abuses at skilled nursing facilities frequently go unreported, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) determined in a new report that also accused the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of not doing enough to protect residents. HHS’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the emergency room records for 134 Medicare beneficiaries with any […]
Total U.S. demand for skilled nursing care is significantly higher than previously projected, according to a new study from the RAND Corporation. While previous research studies have consistently found that about 35% of older Americans will spend at least one night at a nursing home during their lifetimes, mirroring data from the Department of Health […]
The last five days were dominated by a pair of major real estate investment trust (REIT) dramas — Sabra Healthcare REIT, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: SBRA) successful shareholder vote to acquire Care Capital Properties (NYSE: CCP), and Quality Care Properties’ (NYSE: QCP) decision to seek receivership for the struggling HCR ManorCare’s facilities. But much more happened in […]
For skilled nursing providers looking for ways to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, taking on advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) could be the way forward. That’s according to Marilyn Rantz, professor of nursing for Missouri University’s Sinclair School of Nursing. In 2012, the nursing school received almost $15 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for an initiative aimed […]
Last year, a federal judge ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to clear a growing Medicare appeals backlog by 2021. But an appellate judge last week overturned the order, claiming that the lower court didn’t fully consider whether such a project would even be possible under current law. The U.S. Court of […]
As the deadline for public comment approached, politicians and advocacy groups lodged strong objections to the Trump administration’s proposal to overturn Obama-era regulations that protect residents’ ability to sue skilled nursing facilities. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a rule in 2016 that prevents SNFs that receive Medicare or Medicaid funds from including “no sue” clauses in […]
Large skilled nursing providers across the country are increasingly selling private insurance plans to their residents, and it appears to be paying off for at least one of them. Among them are Erickson Living and Signature Healthcare, two of the country’s biggest providers of skilled nursing services. Both Erickson and Signature offer private Medicare Advantage […]
Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBRA) came out swinging against activist shareholders on the company’s quarterly earnings call Thursday afternoon, trumpeting the potential of skilled nursing facilities in the future and questioning the credentials of those who have criticized its impending merger with Care Capital Properties (NYSE: CCP). A nearly “pure play” SNF real estate […]
New payment models frequently shoulder the blame for the uncertainty surrounding the skilled nursing marketplace, as operators struggle to shift from the private-pay and Medicare of the past to Medicare Advantage and other new reimbursement methods. But, according to one SNF consultant, the time for blaming new models is over — and the only thing […]
A bill recently reintroduced in the U.S. Senate aims to make skilled nursing services more readily available for veterans of the military. Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) on July 20 reintroduced the Veterans Access to Long Term Care and Health Services Act (S. 1611). The legislation would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to […]
The number of doctors practicing in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) has dropped, while the number of non-doctor SNF specialists has nearly doubled, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine. Headed by Dr. Joan Teno of the Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence at the University of […]
In case you missed it, here’s a look at the past week in skilled nursing news, from a potential final showdown between a major provider and its landlord to a peek into the highest-paid executives in the business. Today’s the day for HCR ManorCare, Inc. to pay the back rent it owes Quality Care Properties, […]
For-profit skilled nursing operators captured a gradually larger share of the United States SNF market from 2009 and 2015, while non-profits increasingly ceded ground to governments. In 2015, for-profits accounted for 68.4% of the nation’s 15,583 certified nursing facilities, according to a Tuesday report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s compared to a 23.8% share […]
At first, the conclusion seems obvious: Hospitals that sink more money into post-acute services provide better care to patients than their lower-spending counterparts. But those findings, released this week by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have stark implications for skilled nursing providers. “We find that patients who go to hospitals that rely more […]
As ongoing Obamacare repeal efforts cloud the future of Medicaid, a bipartisan pair of representatives introduced a bill they claim will help strengthen Medicare Advantage access for the most vulnerable seniors. H.R. 3168 would reauthorize Medicare Special Needs Plans, which are generally restricted to recipients who need institutional care, must manage chronic illnesses, or qualify for […]
The Senate’s proposed health care legislation, like the bill that passed the House, includes significant cuts to Medicaid, which is the top payer for skilled nursing services. This presents obvious challenges for SNFs, but also may provide some positive outcomes. In the first quarter of 2017, 65.2% of patient days were attributed to Medicaid, and the Medicaid patient […]
Skilled Nursing News Take: In the same week that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would delay enforcement of new skilled nursing regulations, Kaiser Health News took this deep look into how some troubled SNFs continue to rack up safety violations even after graduating from the agency’s most stringent monitoring […]