Massachusetts health officials have increased financial penalties for nursing homes with the state’s lowest staffing levels, implementing a new Medicaid payment policy that took effect Thursday. Under the new MassHealth rules, nursing homes that fall below the state’s minimum staffing standard of 3.58 nursing hours per resident per day (HPRD) can face reduced Medicaid payments. […]
Category: Staffing
Nursing homes and home health agencies in Wisconsin have had to scrap plans years in the making to hire workers from overseas, after the Trump administration suspended almost all refugee programs. One nursing home operator in Sparta invested more than $100,000 in building apartments to house overseas workers – when policy changed, the housing was […]
A new kind of role is emerging in nursing homes: the geriatric specialist, a certified nurse aide (CNA) who has completed an apprenticeship designed to deepen clinical knowledge, build specialized skills and take on greater responsibility in caring for older adults. These CNA apprenticeships, which come with a pay increase, are seen to strengthen retention […]
American Healthcare REIT (NYSE: AHR) sees regional nursing home operator Trilogy Health Services as a gold standard for operational lessons to apply across its portfolio and across care settings, and an “operational laboratory” to test out best practices. That’s according to AHR Chairman and CEO Jeff Hanson, who spoke at the Bank of America Securities […]
While AI adoption is emerging as the more immediate priority for nursing home providers, workforce challenges are expected to persist over the long term, according to providers surveyed about the sector outlook. Nursing home providers said in a survey conducted by Skilled Nursing News in late August ahead of the RETHINK conference that the biggest […]
Newly appointed MatrixCare CEO Jonathan Lujan is keenly aware that technology intended to ease the post-acute sector’s burdens from heavy regulation to unpredictable reimbursement can sometimes add to them. And so, his immediate goal is to help staff spend more time at the bedside and less time managing technology. Under his watch, Lujan wants MatrixCare to become an organization known […]
Job growth at skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) essentially stayed unchanged in August compared to a month ago, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Seasonally adjusted employment for SNFs rose from 1.5901 million in July to 1.5902 million in August. Meanwhile, healthcare hiring overall remained positive but sluggish, with job […]
While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) bid to make resident satisfaction a mandatory part of federal regulation was shelved, a pilot program across skilled nursing facilities is demonstrating the power of resident councils to improve both care quality and the nursing home industry’s tarnished reputation. An 18-month resident council pilot program in […]
Nursing homes that can successfully balance their nurse hours per patient day (HPRD), overtime and agency use consistently see stronger quality outcomes and lower labor costs. Anywhere between 3.75 to 4.5 nursing HPRD is the range for consistent quality outcomes, according to a report from Covr, a workforce scheduling and data analytics platform, while high-performing […]
Survey changes, value-based care and other regulatory updates are shaping how operators hire and build clinical teams. As regulatory priorities shift and staffing conditions stabilize, nursing home hiring is increasingly driven by specialized expertise and a clearer sense of accountability to a company’s core values. And while federal policy actions, such as greater scrutiny of […]
A shortage of guardians, or those empowered to make medical decisions on behalf of incapacitated patients, is contributing to a hospital bottleneck in Massachusetts, according to a report published by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and Eastern Research Group, in collaboration with the Bureau of Health Safety and Quality. The DPH estimates there […]
Nurse practitioners (NPs) are a growing presence in nursing homes and are expected to play an even more pivotal role in the years to come, with the role tied to survey outcomes, quality improvement initiatives and value-based care. The changing survey process, the Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) programs and value-based care models like […]
The quality of clinical workers in nursing homes has improved in 2026 as more temporary workers have transitioned into permanent roles, driven by higher wages, better benefits and greater career opportunities, according to leaders at these organizations. At the same time, as the skilled nursing workforce has stabilized over the past year, major providers have […]
More than a fourth of nursing homes nationally reported at least one serious deficiency, with 5% of the deficiencies cited in the last survey cycle rising to the level of actual harm or immediate jeopardy (IJ) posed to residents, representing serious risks, including injury, impairment or death, according to a KFF analysis released Thursday. That’s […]
Recruiting and retaining qualified clinical staff continues to be one of the greatest operational and financial concerns for nursing homes and other long-term care providers, according to the July 2026 Ziegler CFO Hotline survey released Wednesday. And although staffing conditions across all senior living segments have improved, maintaining workforce gains remains top of mind for […]
The Florida Health Care Association (FHCA), which represents 90% of Florida’s almost 700 nursing homes, is calling upon the Department of Homeland Security to allow Haitians with temporary protected status (TPS) to continue working in long-term care while pursuing available lawful immigration pathways. Out of the 350,000 Haitians living in the country with TPS, half live in […]
It’s no secret that successful institutional special needs plan (I-SNP) partnerships depend on aligned incentives between the nursing home operator and insurer, trust between parties and organizational buy-in. However, achieving that cohesion is another matter. On the insurer’s side, co-designing benefits with providers and maintaining data transparency may be outliers when it comes to larger […]
After its bankruptcy sale, Genesis Healthcare executives honed in on the evolution of its management team, investing in administrators and directors of nursing differently, while doubling down on its locally structured “pod model,” which has been in development for the past two years. Jake Komin, chief performance officer for Genesis views the bankruptcy as a […]
Following the Supreme Court ruling allowing the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, Syrians and possibly more than 1.3 million immigrants from multiple countries, nursing home leaders say major access issues are on the horizon. Immigrants who have legally lived and worked in the country for years, including those in the […]
Balancing the needs of seasoned and new clinicians in the nursing home sector, along with prepping them for residents with more complex cases has been a huge challenge for clinical leaders lately. This challenge comes on top of survey backlogs that, in some cases, span several years, resulting in outdated star ratings that unfairly mar […]
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