In the skilled nursing world, a steady chorus of voices has warned that the new Patient-Driven Payment Model will not stay budget-neutral, as the federal government intended — and new findings from the consulting firm BKD back up their assertions. To get a snapshot of operator performance during the first quarter under the new Medicare […]
Category: Medicare
The federal government on Thursday announced a major shake-up to its consumer-facing database of skilled nursing facility quality information, revealing plans to merge Nursing Home Compare into a more comprehensive website that features data about care sites across the continuum. Sometime later this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will combine all […]
The consulting firm Avalere Health, based in Washington, D.C., has had a front-row seat for the changes shaping the health care world, including the post-acute sphere. For skilled nursing facilities, many of those changes have felt like one punch after another, ranging from the rise of Medicare Advantage enrollment to the federal government’s encouragement of […]
National skilled nursing giant Genesis HealthCare (NYSE: GEN) continued its drive to bring more outside operators into its accountable care organization (ACO) this week, announcing a new accord with Senior Living Properties. Under the terms of the deal, the Fort Worth, Texas-based Senior Living Properties will see some of its buildings — along with select […]
Three months into the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), operators are still strategizing how to best streamline coding and reimbursements. Some are beginning to glean positive results with increased margins, whether it’s through an increase in more efficient group and concurrent modalities or a reduction in therapy headcounts — or both. But operators still have areas […]
Early returns for the new Medicare Part A reimbursement system for nursing home operators appear positive, but some industry advocates warn that more Part B pain could be coming over the next few years, both for therapists and skilled nursing providers. And although the exploding senior population represents heavy demand for therapy services, some leaders […]
Just about every major policy change, no matter how well intentioned, has butterfly effects that no one can foresee — along with changes that, while foreseen, still can cause real harm to real people. The news of therapy layoffs and hour reductions that swept through the skilled nursing world earlier last year fell into the […]
The chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be leaving the agency next month to take a new position with health insurance heavyweight Humana (NYSE: HUM). Modern Healthcare first reported the news Thursday. CMS confirmed to Modern Healthcare that Dr. Kate Goodrich, who has also served as director of […]
Though the early days of 2020 have brought some optimism around the state of the post-acute and long-term care industry, executives in the space continue to emphasize that the coming 12 months could bring make-or-break decisions for operators and their partners. One day after American Health Care Association (AHCA) CEO Mark Parkinson told SNN that […]
Early analyses of the new Medicare payment model for nursing homes indicate that operators may be pulling in more money than the federal government intended — leading to widespread speculation that adjustments could be coming sometime in 2020. American Health Care Association (AHCA) president and CEO Mark Parkinson agrees with the idea that the Patient-Driven […]
A federal overhaul to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), implemented late in 2018, has led to an increase in the number of accountable care organizations (ACOs) taking on downside risk. The redesign of the program, dubbed “Pathways to Success,” generally required new ACOs to take accountability for spending increases after two years; previously ACOs […]
Among the many early takeaways from the new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), perhaps the most immediate was its effect on rank-and-file therapists who work at skilled nursing facilities. Almost instantly after the PDPM shift on October 1, Skilled Nursing News received a flurry of e-mails from therapists who were laid off or saw their hours […]
The margins for skilled nursing facilities finally broke out of the red and to break-even levels, according to the latest benchmarking report from consulting firm Plante Moran. But occupancy remained stagnant from 2017 to 2018, and staffing costs continue to increase. And Medicaid remains the elephant in the room when it comes to making the […]
A major bundled payment program for hip and knee replacement episodes has produced savings for the government without corresponding declines in quality, according to a new study — confirming the central motive behind a program that has drawn the ire of post-acute operators. The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement model (BPCI) seeks to both decrease […]
The federal government on Monday announced the appointment of Brad Smith, a health care and insurance industry veteran, as the next head of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). Smith, previously the chief operating officer at insurance giant Anthem’s diversified business group, will additionally serve as senior advisor for value-based transformation to Department […]
The new year is barely a few days old, but leaders across the post-acute and long-term health care space have already predicted an active — and potentially distress-filled — 2020. As the industry adapts to a new Medicare payment model, the pressures that have bogged operators down over the last few years will continue, from […]
In the lead-up to the new year, Skilled Nursing News took a look back at the top stories of 2019, and made our best predictions about the trends that will shape — and potentially rock — the post-acute and long-term care space in 2020. For these first business days of 2020, we decided to let […]
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 […]
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 […]