Although survey citation rules can vary from state to state, nursing home operators can implement broad steps to avoid deficiencies if they focus on the often overlooked easy fixes as well as the more complicated overlaps between disparate areas of care – ranging from food safety and mental health documentation to infection control. Certain trends […]
Zimmet Healthcare Services Group
Covid cases are beginning to rise again, steadily at first and now with a sharper increase over the past five weeks, especially in large metropolitan areas. Hospitalizations across the country rose by nearly 19% in the last week to 15,067, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is especially […]
Industry leaders continued to have mixed reactions about the fate of the Biden Administration’s nursing home staffing mandate after the accidental online release of a staffing study commissioned by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), with some insiders questioning the leaked study’s data. Industry stakeholders doubted the reliability of the study conducted by […]
For skilled nursing facility operators, the most common survey deficiencies might not be the ones always at the top-of-mind. In multiple states, a Zimmet Healthcare Services Group (ZHSG) analysis found that food safety and procurement was the primary deficiency, among other areas, like basic infection control and resident rights. “During interviews, the food quality often […]
As nursing home operators enter the final stretch before Minimum Data Set (MDS) changes take effect on Oct. 1, they are focusing particular attention on items related to capturing resident depression. With a substantial amount of reimbursement being at stake, the effect of the change from the PHQ-9 to the PHQ-2 to 9 is the […]
The issue of formally requiring patient surveys for nursing homes, similar to surveys mandated in other segments of health care, has long been a source of debate – one getting stirred up again after federal policy makers decided to nix patient satisfaction measures from the recently issued final prospective payment rule for 2024. The Centers […]
The skilled nursing sector is under increasing pain due to the growth of Medicare Advantage, with the industry losing hundreds of millions of dollars while operators also are contending with a host of operational burdens. This was a message delivered repeatedly Wednesday at the “Roaring Reimbursement” conference held by Zimmet Healthcare Services Group (ZHSG) in […]
General staffing metrics used to assess quality of care hold less weight these days and need to be updated, experts say, because the entire skilled nursing industry is struggling to build and retain its workforce. These quality measures need to be presented through the lens of the pandemic and the staffing crisis, SNF leaders say. […]
As acuity continues to rise among nursing home residents, providers say reimbursement needs to change too – and not just the dollar amount. Incentives should be based on quality of care, and the industry will need to build out specific reimbursement models to match expanded acuity specialities, especially as value-based care becomes more and more […]
All skilled nursing facilities that participate in Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) can expect a letter from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding improper payment rates starting June 5. And, as of an updated memo from CMS on Monday, claims could be adjusted or denied if an improper payment is identified. CMS initially posted […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took aim at improper skilled nursing payment rates in its latest memo on May 4. This appears to be a reaction from data compiled using the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) program, which projected an improper payment rate of 15.1% in 2022 for Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS), nearly […]
As Medicare Advantage continues to penetrate the nursing home market, leaders say that MA plans are depressing margins amid higher costs to run operations. This might lead some operators to contemplate closing, while others will be wiser to hire staff in designated roles to help them negotiate better rates – and exclusions – for managed […]
Occupancy for post-acute care was flat on a month-over-month basis as of April 9, 2023, according to a data analysis from BMO Capital Markets. The news is dimmer for the real estate investment trusts (REITs) covered by the firm, most of which saw sequential declines, according to a note issued Friday. The analysts mapped REIT […]
Following states like Illinois and New York, Connecticut is the latest state to introduce a bill aimed at transforming staffing and requiring transparency changes among area nursing homes. Proposed changes would apply to the more than 200 nursing homes across the state. One change involves boosting minimum staffing hours from 3 to 4.1 per person […]
The skilled nursing industry is facing a defining moment that could determine the future of Medicaid reimbursement, with a new model emerging that ties increased dollars to facility performance. “I doubt that we’re going to get another chance,” Zimmet Healthcare Services CEO Marc Zimmet said Tuesday at the annual eCap conference in Miami. This as […]
As the skilled nursing industry is beset by crippling staffing shortages, inflation costs, and increased government oversight in an already highly regulated field, operators must be proactive in shielding themselves from litigation risk. Risk is coming from a multitude of different places, according to experts at a Zimmet Healthcare Services Group webinar on Thursday, and […]
“The sector has a tremendous opportunity to reimagine how we deliver care.” These are the words of Nate Schema, president and CEO of The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, one of the largest providers of skilled nursing services in the United States. Good Sam is reimagining care in part through a $350 million virtual care […]
As CEO of Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, Marc Zimmet has spent decades analyzing the skilled nursing industry and developing solutions for post-acute care operators. An expert in reimbursement, compliance, and strategy, Zimmet takes the Hot Seat to share some of details around how he came to the industry, his favorite destination when he’s not analyzing […]
As the SNF sector enters its third year under the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), data analytics and consulting firms like Zimmet Healthcare Services Group are finding stark differences in reimbursement levels between top-performing operators and those at the bottom of the barrel. For one, the top 10% of SNF providers have rates $70 over the […]
A lot of temporary measures will dry up or disappear when the public health emergency (PHE) comes to an end, but one thing that may become permanent is the Medicaid rate bumps states put in place to alleviate pressures nursing home operators face. At least that’s the hope for industry leaders and advocacy groups. Right […]