Nursing Homes Shouldn’t Fear Overreacting to COVID-19 — Even If It Means Getting Ahead of CDC, CMS

As the chief medical officer for publicly traded nursing home giant Genesis HealthCare (NYSE: GEN), Dr. Richard Feifer has a bird’s-eye view on the strategies that hundreds of individual nursing homes have implemented in the fight against COVID-19. Appearing on the most recent episode of SNN’s “Rethink” podcast, Feifer was blunt about the decisions that […]

Rethink Podcast #24: Arif Nazir of Signature HealthCARE and AMDA

The 24th episode of our podcast, Rethink, is now available! As both the chief medical officer for Signature HealthCARE and president of AMDA, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, Dr. Arif Nazir has a micro- and macro-level view on how skilled nursing facilities are fighting the novel coronavirus. Dr. Nazir sat down with […]

Signature’s Chief Medical Officer: COVID-19 Crisis Will Usher in ‘New Era’ of Skilled Nursing, Post-Acute Care

As both the chief medical officer for Signature HealthCARE and president of AMDA, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, Dr. Arif Nazir has a micro- and macro-level view on how skilled nursing facilities are fighting the coronavirus. And even in these early days of the crisis, Nazir believes that the sweeping emergency steps […]

Rethink Podcast #23: Angie Roberson of American Case Management Association

The novel coronavirus outbreak has put skilled nursing facilities on lockdown and disrupted daily life around the world. But health care needs continue apace, and the junction between SNF and hospital is crucial. Angie Roberson, the president of the American Case Management Association and the director of case management at the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, […]

Rethink Podcast #22: Kelli Luneborg-Stern of Trifecta Public Strategies

In the senior housing and care spectrum, nursing homes typically have the worst reputation among the general public and the press — a negative image that can only worsen in cases of abuse, neglect, or high-profile accidents. As the managing partner and co-founder of Trifecta Public Strategies, Kelli Luneborg-Stern has guided skilled nursing operators through […]

As Admission Holds Loom, Skilled Nursing Facilities and Hospitals Must Stay in Constant COVID-19 Contact

The residents and patients at skilled nursing facilities are uniquely imperiled by COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that’s rapidly altering the routines of everyday life worldwide. As a result, SNFs across the country have gone into lockdown, with the federal government on Friday issuing a blanket ban of non-essential visits. Their hospital […]

‘I Would Take a SNF Operator With Me in a Dark Alley’: How Nursing Homes Can Prove Worth to a Skeptical Public

Nursing home providers have long suffered from a worse public image than their peers along the senior housing and care continuum, with just the phrase itself conjuring images of a place that few people would ever choose to call home. It’s a problem that leaders with decades of experience in the space acknowledge could become […]

Rethink Podcast #21: John Delossantos of JMD Healthcare Solutions

The 21st episode of our podcast, Rethink, is now available! As the CEO of JMD Healthcare Solutions, John Delossantos has had a front-row seat to the Medicare payment model change still roiling the skilled nursing space. So far, Delossantos is upbeat about PDPM’s potential to improve the health of both residents and the industry as […]

Why 2020 Could Be the Year of PDPM Exits — and the Skilled Nursing-Led ACO

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 […]

Rethink Podcast #20: Fred Bentley of Avalere Health

The 20th episode of our podcast, Rethink, is now available! The Patient-Driven Payment Model — and all the changes that came with it — officially arrived for skilled nursing providers in October 2019. The new Medicare reimbursement system for SNFs was top of mind throughout the year, but 2020 will bring a variety of new challenges, […]

Rethink Podcast #19: Fred Stratmann of CommuniCare

The 19th episode of our podcast, Rethink, is now available! The opioid crisis has hit every part of the U.S. health care system – skilled nursing facilities included. But state and federal regulations haven’t moved as fast as the crisis, even though more and more providers are seeing these patients come through their doors. Leaders […]

Why the Median Skilled Nursing Margin Fell Below 0% — and How Operators Can Come Up from Underwater

Earlier this fall, a decades-old annual survey of nursing home finances revealed that for the first time, the median operating margin for the nation’s skilled nursing facilities fell below zero. While the statistics from consulting firm CLA weren’t necessarily surprising, given the micro- and macro-level challenges facing nursing home operators over the last decade, that […]

Rethink Podcast #18: Cory Rutledge of CLA

The 18th episode of our podcast, Rethink, is now available! For the first time in 34 years, an annual report on nursing home finances found that the median operating margin for providers fell below zero. For CLA managing principal Cory Rutledge, a co-author of the report, the result wasn’t exactly surprising, given the headwinds battering […]

Rethink Podcast #17: Chris Bryson of Consulate Health Care

The 17th episode of our podcast, Rethink, is now available! With 140 facilities, Consulate Health Care is something of an outlier in the skilled nursing world, and has seen its share of ups and downs related to its size. But after a strategic shrinking — and an overhaul to improve quality and care at the […]

With a ‘Shrink to Grow’ Plan Complete, a Strengthened Consulate Eyes Skilled Nursing Expansion

Stabilizing and turning around a single skilled nursing facility can take up considerable time and resources for any one provider. Turning around an operating company with more than 200 buildings and a multitude of internal systems takes even longer. Consulate Health Care needed multiple years. Chris Bryson who joined the Maitland, Fla.-based operator in September […]

‘It’s Not That Easy’: What Skilled Nursing Operators Should Consider Before Launching — or Joining — an I-SNP

On paper, a skilled nursing facility starting its own specialty Medicare Advantage plan sounds like an easy decision: In an era of tight reimbursements, staffing pressures, and length-of-stay declines, why not control the payment source that so frequently vexes them? But according to René Lerer, the calculus for Institutional Special Needs Plans (I-SNPs) just isn’t […]

Rethink Podcast #16: René Lerer of Longevity Health Plan

The 16th episode of our podcast, Rethink, is now available! Over the last few years, there’s probably been no hotter topic in the skilled nursing space than I-SNPs — special Medicare Advantage plans that cover long-term residents of nursing homes and other institutional sites of care.As CEO of Longevity Health Plan, René Lerer has had […]

Rethink Podcast #15: Sue Craft of Henry Ford Health System

The 15th episode of our podcast, Rethink, is now available! It’s never been a more important time for skilled nursing facilities to get to know their hospital partners, especially as SNFs face penalties for patient readmissions and a constant battle to maintain census and provide the best quality of care. That makes open lines of communication […]