The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking information related to dual-eligible enrollment in Medicare Advantage institutional special needs plans (I-SNPs). The agency is concerned that such plans have a high number of dual-eligible beneficiaries but are not designed specifically for this group, and is considering putting requirements in place that would align […]
Harvard Medical School
In their quest to reduce hospitalizations and improve patient outcomes, nursing home providers should not underestimate the difference that strong hydration and nutrition programs can make. This was one theme of the recent Skilled Nursing News RETHINK Conference in Chicago, where leaders with various providers spoke of their companies’ efforts and achievements in these areas. […]
Hospital length of stay has been increasing more dramatically for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries than traditional Medicare beneficiaries, and this trend is especially pronounced for people who are discharged to a skilled nursing facility. This is according to an article recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine. In the third quarter of 2023, hospital patients on Medicare […]
Delivering care to dual eligible nursing home residents can be complex with so many payers involved in the industry, but aligning incentives, quality measures and tools for providers can help operators serve this demographic. Dual eligible residents, or those that can receive benefits from both Medicare and Medicaid, often find themselves in a “tangled web […]
Hospital systems that had high telemedicine usage during the Covid-19 pandemic also had higher skilled nursing facility spending, compared to health systems with lower telemedicine usage in that time period. That’s according to research findings published April 17 in Health Affairs. Specifically, compared with health systems defined as having low telemedicine use, high-telemedicine health systems […]
As the nursing home industry finally gets a first look at the long-awaited proposed minimum staffing mandate released early Friday, leaders across the sector say that its most critical aspects deal with implementation timing, a “good faith” provision, and requirements for registered nurses (RNs). As it stands, the proposed rule has major implications for access […]
Even as 60,000 nursing home and long-term care residents died from Covid in the first five months of the pandemic, antiviral treatments for the virus only reached one in five nursing home residents. These grim statistics plagued the sector despite medical guidelines calling for the prompt administering of antiviral treatments to patients that were at […]
Insurance giant Genworth (GNW) has teamed with Timothy Peck — the entrepreneur behind Call9 and Curve Health — on a startup meant to redefine the way older adults connect with skilled nursing and other long-term services and supports. Currently, when older adults and their loved ones are in need, they must start to navigate a […]
As colder temperatures bring flu season and the likelihood of higher Covid cases, the nation’s most frail population — and the workers that care for them — can only benefit from a fall Covid booster campaign, researchers say. Federal dollars to pay for a campaign, however, have dwindled. A recent study conducted by the Commonwealth […]
The nursing home industry was thrust back into the national spotlight this week as federal lawmakers called out for-profit ownership for their lack of resources during the early months of the pandemic and confounding corporate structures. The Congressional Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, chaired by Rep. James Clyburn, held a hearing on Wednesday to […]
Even in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) without active Covid-19 outbreaks, the pandemic exacted a toll on residents in the form of increased weight loss and depressive symptoms. These facts likely will not come as a surprise to SNF operators who have observed changes in their residents, but there is now data confirming these trends, thanks […]
Finding solutions to high staff turnover rates and persistent retention and recruitment challenges will take a combination of strategies — forcing nursing home operators to be creative and nimble to find out what works best for them. What can often get in the way of finding the right set of solutions for a provider is […]
While recent court injunctions have suspended the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the time being, new evidence shows that nursing home staff vaccination rates may have ramifications on the resident population they serve. In fact, nursing homes with the lowest staff vaccination rates had more than two times the […]
Skilled nursing facilities have benefited from some Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rule changes that came into effect over the pandemic — but providers should expect these waivers to be removed. While provisions related to telehealth might be lasting, Harvard Medical School Healthcare Policy Professor Dr. David Grabowski does not expect some of […]
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed structural issues from top to bottom in the infrastructure of long-term care in the U.S., from infection control to staffing levels to SNFs’ role in the health care system. But one solution would address, if not eliminate, a multitude of those problems, according to a range of operators, consultants, and frontline […]
Newly inaugurated President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, will likely bring an uptick in enforcement and an increased focus on compliance from the agency as political scrutiny turns to long-term care facilities, where an estimated 40% of COVID-19 deaths have so far occurred. Becerra, the current […]
The federal authorities that regulate skilled nursing facilities issued a slew of changes to the rules governing nursing home care in the early months of spring as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the facilities. Some of those changes, such as the loosening of restrictions around the use of telemedicine, are […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the nursing home sector and exposed endemic flaws in the long-term care system in the U.S., several witnesses testified before members of the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee in a video briefing held Thursday. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis heard testimony from a range of witnesses on the […]
Without the funds and the resources needed to meet COVID-19 testing recommendations, the federal government’s guidance on reopening nursing homes could create more confusion for skilled nursing facilities — and more challenges on top of the considerable strain they already face in combating the spread of the illness. “At a high level, I really think […]
A sweeping ban on nursing home visits dominated headlines both inside and outside the industry over the weekend, but buried in the federal government’s recent emergency COVID-19 guidelines was a waiver of the three-day hospital stay rule for Medicare skilled nursing coverage. Under normal conditions, a Medicare beneficiary must remain in the hospital for three […]
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