14% Uptick in Patients Being Discharged Home From Nursing Homes

An analysis of over 90,000 custodial patients from 517 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) across the country found a 14% increase between 2019 and 2021 in the number of patients being discharged home, according to recent analysis by care coordination software provider CarePort. With new referrals still down 20% from their pre-COVID rates for SNFs as […]

Telehealth Not A ‘One-Size-Fits-All’ Solution For Nursing Homes, Study Finds

A sample of clinicians and administrators at 700 nursing homes nationwide revealed that while telehealth appears to be one COVID-19 trend that’s here to stay, integration of the technology can come at a cost. For some facilities, telehealth was found to cause less socialization opportunities for older adults, and for a patient population that includes […]

Higher Acuity Means More Specialists Needed in SNF Setting, NodMD Execs Say

Clinical specialists and telemedicine are key to caring for a higher-acuity population among skilled nursing facilities, with the likelihood of less readmissions. Ideally, specialists should be on a clinical team within a nursing home, led by a medical director, but sometimes facilities don’t have access to needed specialists because of location and the wider staffing […]

Sava, Signature Leaders Say Tech Investment is Crucial to Redesigning Long-Term Care

Post-acute care clinicians are looking to workflow technology to help with frontline burnout in an effort to redesign clinical care and erase redundancies along the care continuum. Tech investment and implementation is broken down by the “need of the hour,” as Signature HealthCARE chief medical officer Dr. Arif Nazir puts it, with infection control and […]

‘Not a Threat’ to Operators, UnityPoint Expands Its SNF-at-Home Program

After the success of its hospital-at-home program, UnityPoint Health is looking to expand its skilled nursing at-home offerings and is partnering with care coordination platform WellSky to do so.  One of six national health systems approved to pilot the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acute Hospital Care At Home program in 2018, the […]

Location is Key for In-House Dialysis Growth For SNFs

As skilled nursing operators look for new paths to take on higher acuity patients, some are turning to in-house dialysis as a way to build back hospital referrals lost during COVID-19. One wrinkle, however, has proven to be that the rules and regulations around the construction and implementation of these services differ from state-to-state, with […]

Nursing Homes Need to Invest in a More Complex, Tech-Savvy Patient, Thrive Center CEO Says

As operators around the country look for ways to modernize to attract new generations of patients and their families, one way nursing homes could leverage grant money for technology investments is through civil money penalty (CMP) funds, according to Thrive Center CEO Sheri Rose. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) CMP reinvestment program […]

SNF-at-Home Model Becoming ‘Critical Player’ For Success

Several factors continue to push patient care inside the home including health care waivers, patient preference, proposed legislation and an incentive to keep patients out of hospitals during the pandemic, as 32 states now offer hospital care at-home services as of July 27. While the clinical capabilities of in-home care remain limited, some operators are […]

California-Based Medical Group Partners With Tech Platform Curve Health

CareConnectMD, a California-based medical group, is partnering with technology platform Curve Health to expand its services and provide “an enhanced patient offering” to SNF residents. Curve Health’s care enablement platform combines telemedicine, smart billing, health information exchange and predictive analytics, according to a press release announcing the partnership. CareConnectMD expects that Curve Health’s technology will […]

With More Clinically Complex Patients Heading to SNFs, Growing Need for In-House Dialysis Emerges

Concerto Renal Services, a growing in-house dialysis service provider for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), is capitalizing on a renewed interest in its services and continues to expand coming out of COVID-19 as operators look for new ways to take on higher acuity patients. The Lincolnwood, Ill.-based Concerto has grown from operating in one state just […]

Edward-Elmhurst Health Gives Patients More Referral Choices With Aidin

Edward-Elmhurst Health (EEH), one of the larger integrated health systems in Illinois, wants to give patients more choice in terms of where they are referred to in post-acute care. The Illinois-based 736-bed hospital system, with three hospitals including Edward Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital and Linden Oaks Behavioral Health, adopted healthcare technology company Aidin last year, and […]

PruittHealth CEO: Nursing Homes Must Go Beyond ‘Cost-Effective Model of Care’

Nursing home operators have lamented for years how difficult it is to address infrastructure problems in their facilities. In some locations and under some circumstances, they’ve been able to make changes over time. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, means that such changes are not optional if operators want to survive – and they cannot be incremental. […]

SNFs That Don’t Embrace Technology Will Be ‘Left Out in the Cold’

In a health care system that’s adopted new ways to track patients with electronic health records (EHRs) and share structured data through health information exchanges (HIE), nursing homes have been a little slow to modernize. But providing better documentation workflows and embracing more efficient technologies will be a must for SNFs moving forward, Dr. Frank […]

Curve Ramps Up Skilled Nursing Telemedicine Platform to Lower Hospital Transfers

Two skilled nursing facilities will soon pilot a new nursing telemedicine platform aiming to reduce unnecessary hospital trips. This Fall, Minnesota-based Southview Acres Health Care Center and California-based Affinity Healthcare Center will test out Curve Health — an expanded successor to telemedicine startup Call9. The facilities are currently training staff to use the system to […]

Why Appriss Health Made a Reported $500M Bet on Post-Acute Care with PatientPing

Despite a historically devastating year for post-acute and long-term care, a major tech player in the behavioral health space sees incredible opportunity in expanding its reach into the sector — particularly as the pandemic continues to illustrate the yawning gaps in the overall health care continuum. The Louisville, Ky.-based Appriss last month made a major […]

PE-Backed Appriss Acquires Skilled Nursing Software Firm PatientPing for a Reported $500M [UPDATED]

PatientPing, a software company that has garnered significant venture capital funding as it looks to ease care transitions between nursing homes and other settings, has sold to Appriss Health, the companies announced Tuesday. PE Hub initially reported the news Monday, citing “people familiar with the transaction”; the two firms formally confirmed that they had reached […]

Omega Acquires Connected Living in Bid to Expand Post-COVID Tech Options to Skilled Nursing Tenants

Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) on Friday announced the acquisition of Connected Living, a move that will bring an in-house tech option for the real estate investment trust’s (REIT) senior housing and care tenants. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Omega senior vice president of corporate strategy and investor relations Matthew Gourmand […]

TapestryHealth, Rosie Ink Deal to Expand Nursing Home Telehealth, Remote Monitoring Systems

The widespread embrace and expansion of telehealth may go down as one of the top long-term positive developments to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a pair of tech players in the nursing home space this week announced a new partnership aimed at building on that momentum. Telemedicine provider and primary care practice TapestryHealth […]