Diversicare Healthcare Services (OTC: DVCR) this week reported a financial boost from its decision to outsource therapy services, along with a significant cache of stimulus funds waiting for deployment. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based nursing home operator in November announced a shift from its wholly-owned Diversicare Therapy Services to Reliant Rehabilitation, a move that Jay McKnight predicted […]
Category: Therapy
Lawmakers and policy experts have talked about a need to shift seniors from institutional to home settings for years, and the pandemic has dramatically forced the health care delivery system to do just that: Patients en masse are no longer going to skilled nursing facilities, and instead opting for home health care. The changes may […]
Therapist staffing coverage at nursing homes fell up to 10% after the October 2019 implementation of a new Medicare payment model, a new study has determined — with the cuts coming primarily on the backs of contracted employees and not full-time skilled nursing facility staffers. Physical and occupational therapist staffing was 6% lower in the […]
Starting New Year’s Day, payment rates for occupational, speech, and physical therapy for Medicare Part B will be cut by up to 9%. Skilled nursing facilities will have to take a hard look at these services, a ripple effect that could have big implications for third-party vendors. The cuts come on top of pivotal changes […]
Select Rehabilitation closed on its acquisition of Kindred Healthcare’s RehabCare business line, the Glenview, Ill.-based therapy company announced on Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed; the acquisition was originally announced on October 5. Select’s pro-forma revenues exceed $1 billion, according to the therapy provider, which employs 17,000 therapists in 43 states. Kindred used […]
The federal government on Tuesday finalized its proposed physician fee schedule for the 2021 calendar year, formalizing cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates for therapy services provided to residents covered under Part B — while also expanding some telehealth flexibilities offered during COVID-19. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in August floated a 9% […]
When the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) overhauled the way Medicare reimburses care provided in skilled nursing facilities, the federal government attempted to put the focus on the care needs of patients — and in doing so, incentivized facilities to capture patient conditions more thoroughly and add to their clinical specialties. At least, that was the […]
Nursing home operator Diversicare Healthcare Services (OTCQX: DVCR) this week announced a deal to shift all of its therapy services to a third-party provider, Reliant Rehabilitation. The Brentwood, Tenn.-based chain had previously offered rehab care under Diversicare Therapy Services, a wholly owned subsidiary. “We believe that this transition will equip us to continue to be […]
The world of third-party rehabilitation was braced for a change in the skilled nursing setting when the Patient-Driven Payment Model, the Medicare reimbursement overhaul that took effect last year, effectively removed therapy as the driver of payment. A few months into that new landscape, the world itself was upended by a global pandemic — one […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for high-level clinicians in nursing facilities, but a pending change to Medicare reimbursements could force physicians to take a steep pay cut in order to continue to practicing in post-acute and long-term care — or push them further and further out of the space. The Medicare Physician Fee […]
The ecosystem of a skilled nursing facility often involves many more entities than the operator itself, ranging from equipment suppliers to third-party rehabilitation. But in the COVID-19 crisis, the way third-party entities interact with operators has, in some cases, been drastically reset. For others, the services have evolved in ways previously unforeseen. And for SNF […]
COVID-19 Scrambles PDPM Math, Particularly Around Therapy Minutes: ‘This Will Be a Complete Rebuild’
In the lead-up to the implementation of the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) on October 1, 2019, consultants, therapists, and the federal government warned operators over and over that therapy minutes would come under intense scrutiny in the months following the start of the new Medicare reimbursement system. The model allowed for patients to receive up […]
While he cautioned that there are still many unknowns around COVID-19, Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA) CEO Rick Matros on Tuesday struck an optimistic tone about his company’s skilled nursing holdings, as well as the industry in general as it starts to look toward a post-COVID future. “Right now, we feel like we’ve been […]
More than a month after the federal government issued widespread waivers to expand telehealth coverage amid the COVID-19 pandemic, therapists will finally be able to provide remote interventions under Medicare. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday announced that it will allow physical, occupational, and speech therapy practitioners to provide Medicare-covered telehealth […]
The federal government has waived multiple regulations around telehealth with an eye toward making it as easy as possible to stay home and receive medical care. It’s a move that seems well-suited to benefit the Medicare beneficiaries living in skilled nursing facilities across the U.S., who need care while minimizing contact with visitors during the […]
Encore Rehabilitation Services on Friday publicly agreed to pay $4 million to settle federal allegations that the contract rehab provider violated the False Claims Act. The Department of Justice had accused the Farmington Hills, Mich.-based rehab operator of “causing three Michigan skilled nursing facilities to submit false claims to Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that […]
While the federal government has taken a hacksaw to the regulations around telehealth services in an attempt to mitigate COVID-19 risks, one group remains largely left out of the push: physical, occupational, and speech therapists. But that could change as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mulls the potential ways it can use […]
Therapy providers were partially included in the federal government’s attempts to waive restrictions on various health providers amid the coronavirus, but some experts say this recent round won’t enable sufficient virtual care for nursing home residents — and also doesn’t decrease the risks therapists are experiencing on the ground amid the pandemic. An expanded telehealth […]
Many therapy teams consider their services essential to nursing home residents — even after the federal government guided the sector to prohibit unnecessary visits to facilities amid the spread of the novel coronavirus. Even with the push to reduce “unessential” services, the government opened the floodgates for nursing facilities to serve overflow patients from hospitals […]
Data from the first quarter of the new Medicare payment model has been generally positive for skilled nursing operators, but it’s important for players in the space to realize that we’re still in the early innings of a change that could take years to sort out fully. Despite the news of per-day payment bumps under […]
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