Therapy providers in the skilled nursing space have been forced to adapt. The sector has already seen a hindrance in access to care following cuts made earlier this year to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). Specifically, Medicare Part B physical and occupational therapy rates took a 15% hit […]
In an effort to meet the evolving needs and growing demands of a patient population that’s become sicker and more complex over the course of Covid, Marquis Health Consulting Services will be enhancing its direct admission options for skilled nursing patients that will serve as an alternative to care in the home. The SNF service […]
North Carolina-based operator Principle LTC is bringing a new opportunity for Alzheimer’s research to its facilities, thanks to an expanded partnership with research organization Care Access. Principle LTC residents that meet criteria at North Carolina facilities, along with community members, will be able to participate in clinical trials, according to a news release announcing the […]
Nursing home residents, staff and company leadership in the physical therapy space are already seeing a bottleneck in access to care, driven by cuts to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) that went into effect three months ago. One significant cut among Medicare Part B physical and occupational therapy […]
As more operators look for new ways to incorporate at-home services into their model of care, SNF-at-home, while growing, may still have a long way to go. Securing reimbursement continues to be the most difficult component for SNF-at-home in a managed care environment, according to Contessa Health CEO Travis Messina. “I do think the lack […]
Nursing homes will be among the recipients of more than one million doses of Pfizer’s antiviral pills made available this month – that’s hundreds of thousands more doses than expected, with more than double that amount to be made available in April. Heightened production of antiviral pill Paxlovid, designed to treat COVID-19, is part of […]
Arcadia Care expanded its footprint in central Illinois after taking over a skilled nursing facility in need of a more “present” operator. Within the first month, CEO Dovid Seitler said Arcadia Care increased the facility’s acuity level, stabilized occupancy and improved financials through necessary expense cuts. Seitler attributed almost doubling the facility’s skilled mix and […]
Florida Medical Clinic on Monday announced it has formed its own post-acute care network to serve Tampa Bay residents – including 10 skilled nursing facilities. The new network is designed for patients that need extended therapy or rehabilitation after discharge from the hospital, the Florida Medical Clinic said in a statement. Joe Delatorre, Florida Medical […]
Marquis Health Services in early 2022 plans to launch a chronic illness initiative focused on nephrology, pulmonology, cardiology, pastoral, palliative and infectious disease services, in an effort to address what the operator considers gaps in post-acute and long-term care. Brick, N.J.-based Marquis is currently evaluating and qualifying facilities to participate in the initiative, according to […]
For Winston-Salem, N.C.-based health system, Novant Health, which includes 15 hospitals, 800 clinics and hundreds of outpatient facilities, admissions have started to return to pre-COVID-19 numbers but referrals to SNFs are still down. While some of that has been lost to home-based care, Andrea Areskog, senior director of value-based care operations at Novant Health says […]
Large data sets related to skilled nursing over long periods of time are vital to government entities at this point in the pandemic — the same data can also inform an industry changed by the patient-driven payment model (PDPM), in terms of what therapies are working for residents. Jason Menges, vice president of national accounts […]
Interface Rehab will pay $2 million to settle federal allegations of rehabilitation billing fraud, the Department of Justice announced on Friday. This announcement comes one year after the DOJ announced a $16.7 million False Claims Act settlement with Longwood Management Corporation and 27 individual affiliated skilled nursing facilities over its rehabilitation services. The $2 million […]
Respiratory service vendors have seen a boom in business due to the pandemic, with respiratory therapists sometimes filling in when COVID unit staff on a nursing home campus became scarce. RTs became indispensable when facilities were experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, and continue to be needed to treat virus “long-haulers,” administering high-flow oxygen without […]
With fewer hospital referrals coming in, and a sicker patient population post-COVID, some operators are finding ways to stand out by specializing in specific areas of medicine to help bring in higher acuity patients. As Martin Siefering, principal at architecture firm Perkins Eastman, put it, nursing homes have more beds than they need right now […]
Symphony Care Network, a Midwest operator with more than 30 properties throughout Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan, is expanding its mental health services to better address a patient population that is more complex and sicker post-COVID. The Chicago-based company formed a new geriatric mental health service — Serenata Geropsychiatric Care program — that helps identify […]
The federal government has again proposed reductions to Medicare reimbursement for various Part B therapy services as part of its 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule. And while the suggested roughly 2% in cuts are measurably lower than reductions floated this time last year, Cynthia Morton, the executive vice president for the National Association […]
One of the ways hospital systems across the U.S. tried to manage and maintain capacity during the pandemic was the suspension of so-called elective procedures – surgeries that could be reasonably delayed or did not create imminent danger for patients who put them off. One of the effects of this was to close off a […]
The long-term care industry has dramatically shifted how it treats behavioral health needs in the 11 years since LifeSource Inc. was first founded, according to President Peggy Baddour. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, those needs have only become more clear for the long-term care facilities, independent living communities and behavioral health agencies LifeSource serves. […]
Providing therapy to patients in a skilled nursing setting is the definition of a hands-on task. The nature of that task did not change over the course of the COVID-19 crisis, which forced a slew of occupations to pivot to virtual formats. While the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued widespread waivers for […]
Increased intensity of therapy services may directly lead to better outcomes for residents in nursing homes and other post-acute care settings, according to a new study backed by a pair of trade groups that represent physical and occupational therapists. Skilled nursing facility residents who received high-intensity therapy — defined as about 90 to 219 hours […]
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