‘Big Dollars’: Omega Touts Occupancy Growth and Strong Investment Pipeline Amid Ongoing Staffing Pressures

Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) executives remained optimistic about occupancy growth, although ongoing staffing pressures at partner nursing homes in certain states contributed to bottlenecks at hospitals. The Maryland-based real estate investment trust (REIT) reported a strong third quarter, with executives touting a strong investment pipeline amid a flurry of dealmaking for the sector at […]

‘Broken System’ of Medicare Advantage Prior Authorizations Leads to Nursing Home, Hospital Woes

While prior authorization has a legitimate role in Medicare Advantage coverage, the practice has expanded to the point of negatively affecting care. This aspect of MA needs to be right sized, and likely through legislation, nursing home leaders said. About 90%-plus of physicians, including those serving nursing home patients, have said that one or more […]

‘Textbook Unlawful’: Nursing Home Plaintiffs Urge Judge to Swiftly Halt CMS Staffing Mandate

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) overstepped its authority in finalizing the federal nursing home staffing mandate, which “cannot stand” and should be set aside swiftly by a judge. This is the argument that the American Health Care Association, LeadingAge and other plaintiffs made in a Motion for Summary Judgment filed on Oct. […]

Ensign Taps Former AHCA Chief Parkinson to Join Board

The Ensign Group (Nasdaq: ENSG) has a high-profile new board member. Mark Parkinson, who recently ended his tenure as CEO and president of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL), is joining Ensign’s board as its ninth director. “I am beyond grateful for the many incredible years I had to associate with […]

National Study Confirms Medicaid Payments Fall Short of Costs, Shows Links to Staffing Levels and Ownership

A new study on Medicaid payment rates from 44 states shows Medicaid payment rates among nursing homes on average don’t adequately cover today’s costs. Meanwhile, higher staffing levels often correlate with lower Medicaid payment-to-cost ratios. And, nonprofits appear to have the lowest payment-to-cost ratio for Medicaid. Medicaid rates only covered bout 82 cents per every […]

Inside PACS and ArchCare’s Hospital Partnerships: How Nursing Homes Are Working to Alleviate Referral Bottlenecks

Staffing shortages and increased acuity of patients are playing a big role in referral placement, along with preferences and prerequisites of referral sources. This is causing nursing homes and hospitals in high-demand areas to get creative with in-house offerings and hospital partnerships, as they are still experiencing bottlenecks in the referral process. At the same […]

Porter Officially Takes Over As AHCA/NCAL CEO This Week

Clifton J. Porter II kicked off his first day as president and CEO of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living this week – the transition comes after Porter was tapped to take on the role in July. Former AHCA/NCAL leader Mark Parkinson led the organization for 14 years prior to […]

‘Existential Threat’: 21 States Sue CMS Over Nursing Home Staffing Mandate

The number of states challenging the federal minimum staffing mandate has now grown to 21 states, after 20 states filed a joint lawsuit. As of Tuesday, Iowa’s attorney general was the latest to sue the Biden-Harris administration, challenging the nursing home federal minimum staffing mandate along with Kansas, Virginia, South Carolina, and other mostly Republican-led […]

Beyond QAPI’s Clinical Benefits: Nursing Homes Use Data for Successful Acquisitions, Adding Service Lines, Improving Reimbursement

Nursing homes looking to best utilize QAPI, or the quality assurance and performance improvement program, should think beyond the obvious clinical compliance and care benefits to residents. QAPI is usually seen as a way to reduce falls or tighten up medication management, but operators can do a lot more with the data besides using it […]

How Allure, Mission Health and iCare Are Using QAPI to Drive Nursing Home Quality Outcomes and Revenue

For some nursing homes, quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) meetings serve merely as a checkbox for requirements, but they haven’t driven changes to improve care quality outcomes. On the flip side, however, other nursing homes are effectively using QAPI meetings to push for success in quality of care. Executives at these facilities emphasize that […]

OSF, Good Samaritan Execs: Improving Metrics Are the Glue Binding Nursing Home-Hospital Relationships

Nursing homes and hospitals are developing closer ties and improving communication, and with this trend, admissions into nursing homes are expected to increase as rehospitalizations and excessive lengths of stay are also seen as declining. With rising acuity and staffing shortages of recent years, nursing homes have often been reluctant in admitting challenging cases that […]

Longevity, Infinity Announce Joint Venture Focused on I-SNP Expansion in Nursing Homes

Longevity Health and Infinity Healthcare Consulting on Wednesday announced a joint venture for institutional special needs plans (I-SNPs), marking Longevity’s entry into three new states, along with the expansion of its existing business into an additional state. Longevity and Infinity’s clients will collaborate to assist I-SNP members living in Infinity nursing facilities across Indiana, Kentucky […]

Nine Comprehensive Healthcare Nursing Homes Sold in Contentious $53M Deal to Kadima

Pennsylvania bankruptcy court late Monday approved the $53 million sale of nine nursing homes in the state to affiliates of Kadima Healthcare Group, as part of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings for more than a dozen facilities operating under Comprehensive Healthcare Management Solutions. Notably, transaction documents do not transfer assets to any insiders, affiliates, officers or […]

Helene Aftermath: Nursing Homes Face ‘Long and Difficult’ Recovery Amid Evacuations and Power Outages

As states in Hurricane Helene’s path grapple with its devastating effects days after it made landfall in Florida Thursday evening, nursing home operators are dealing with significant repair and maintenance challenges that could last a while – particularly in states like North Carolina. Damage to transportation, power and utilities could make recovery in some states […]

Inside Covenant, American Health Plans’ Strategies to Keep Nursing Home Managed Care Burdens in Check

In weathering the rise of managed care penetration – which has often meant lost profits – nursing homes are turning to centralized processes for handling claims, beefing up teams to handle additional documentation requests (ADRs), and closely tracking contract renewals. Rates for managed care plans like Medicare Advantage are often lower than traditional fee-for-service Medicare […]

Newsweek’s Nursing Home Rankings for 2025: Certain States Pull Ahead Depending on Facility Size

Newsweek released its list of top nursing homes for 2025 on Wednesday, ranking facilities within each state according to number of beds. Newsweek recognized 1,050 nursing homes across 25 states with the highest number of facilities, using data published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in partnership with the global research firm […]

Genesis HealthCare Exec: Recruit Winning SNF Teams with Strategic Playbook Inspired by College Athletics

Nursing home operators could strengthen their workforces by taking lessons from the way colleges and universities strategically recruit football players and other athletes. That’s an idea put forward by Nicole Kaufman, chief transformation officer at Genesis HealthCare, at the recent Skilled Nursing News RETHINK conference in Chicago. Kennett Square, Pennsylvania-based Genesis is one of the […]

American Senior Communities CEO Talks I-SNP JV, Benefits and Drawbacks of Concentrated Scale

Coming off of his first year as CEO of American Senior Communities Steve Van Camp is busy planning an Institutional Special Needs Plan (I-SNP) joint venture with five other providers in Indiana, while also devoting time and resources to meeting quality measures and outcomes among ASC facilities.  Important considerations to forge ahead with these efforts […]

Hartford Foundation: As 95% of Older Adults Seek to Age in Place, 60% Express Concerns About Nursing Home Quality

Of an estimated 36 million Americans with a family member or friend in a nursing home, only 37% say their loved one is receiving high-quality care. And political affiliation aside, older adults want public policies that support and improve quality care. That’s according to a study issued by The John A. Hartford Foundation. Based on […]