The five-star quality rating system has been a thorny issue for a lot of operators in the skilled nursing space, with many calling for a significant overhaul to quality metrics as facilities drown in seemingly endless federal benchmark adjustments. Even academics and consultants monitoring the sector believe the ratings system needs to be updated – […]
Zimmet Healthcare Services Group
As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) works to establish federal minimum staffing levels, industry leaders are calling on the government agency to broaden the caregiver definition. The current federal requirement does not provide a specific daily minimum standard, rather, it states that nursing homes must provide “…sufficient nursing staff to attain or […]
The nursing home sector may be facing even bigger, more longstanding obstacles than current staffing woes and increased costs due to rising inflation. According to one industry leader, the crisis facing long-term care is the data itself. “We have this one-size-fits-all regulation, we have irrational payment systems where reporting is fragmented, redundant and inconsistent and […]
Utah-based skilled nursing company Eduro Healthcare recently acquired seven facilities in the San Antonio, Texas area, bringing the total count in the state to 15. Eduro first entered the Texas market in April 2021, and has seen success as operational and delivery of care changes are implemented, according to a news release. “Having worked in […]
Whether it’s uttered during an interview, highlighted during an industry conference or referenced in a news release, I’ve heard and seen the word “crisis” quite often during my time reporting on the skilled nursing industry. And it’s not surprising the word has been used so frequently. Covid-19 was a global crisis that hit the nursing […]
The Biden administration, and its federal agencies, appear to be in lockstep in how they have been thinking and talking about nursing homes, industry leaders say, further evidenced by the latest release on the rules of participation for Medicare and Medicaid. Specifically concerning the administration’s efforts to establish a minimum staffing ratio among facilities, the […]
Persistent staffing shortages have put some MDS coordinators at a difficult crossroads. More and more are being called to fill in on the nursing home floor and assist in patient care. On one hand MDS coordinators are registered nurses and often have years of experience in direct care, but for some it’s not how they […]
Operators and nursing home industry leaders wait with bated breath for the implementation of new staffing measures in its five-star rating system starting in July, a move seen by some as insensitive in light of a historic staffing shortage and soaring agency use. While facilities have been reporting staffing turnover and weekend staffing data since […]
Despite the arduous operating challenges facing skilled nursing providers in 2022 — workforce shortages, inflation, occupancy and looming federal regulations just to name a few — the future of the sector may not be as dark and stormy as one might anticipate. The obstacles nursing home operators have already and will continue to face over […]
Persistent staffing shortages combined with regulatory headwinds have put even more pressure on nursing home MDS coordinators, a specialty position that itself has not been immune to the job turnover felt across the sector. And their role to ensure that facilities get the reimbursement they earn and the right care is provided may be more […]
Skilled nursing operators are presently eyeing a $320 million proposed decrease to Medicare funding at a time when a historic labor crisis and federal policies and rhetoric have a chance to make a mark on the industry for years to come. In just the last few months, the Biden administration unveiled its nursing home reform […]
After delaying cuts last year due to Covid, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced last week that it is moving forward with proposed cuts to Medicare funding for nursing homes. The CMS proposal includes a 3.9% Medicare rate increase for skilled nursing facilities, but the agency announced cutbacks to PDPM payments by […]
The Biden administration is working toward pushing its value-based care agenda on nursing homes by way of state Medicaid programs, a daunting task with no two programs the same, and reimbursement rates varying widely based on state. As evidenced in reforms announced in February, federal agencies are also focused on tying staffing-related measures to value-based […]
Lenders and operators agree the skilled nursing market continues to largely be a regional affair when it comes to prospective transactions – buildings are often considered within the context of others in a 15- to 20-mile radius, with national statistics oftentimes secondary. State or regional specific operators understand what’s happening with labor in those markets, […]
Nursing homes have long been seen as the place where elderly Medicare and Medicaid patients spend their final years, but as these institutions look to evolve post-COVID, their role in the long-term care continuum continues to expand. Over the course of the year, SNN has seen operators open in-house dialysis units, renovate their facilities for […]
The role of a minimum data set (MDS) coordinator is one that continues to evolve in post-acute care since the launch of PDPM in 2019, and as operators have struggled to bring in nurses across the board, so too have they struggled to keep their MDS coordinators. With multiple coordinator openings at the moment, Rockport […]
With Medicare Advantage revenue “significantly lower” than fee-for-service reimbursement, a new Zimmet Healthcare Services Group analysis says, skilled nursing facilities need to weather today’s “reimbursement storm” in order to make it to the incoming wave of baby boomers that will need facility services. In the meantime, Zimmet suggests operators utilize facility data to improve MA […]
When the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it would delay adjustments to the Payment-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) until next year, some in the skilled nursing industry felt they were getting some breathing room. But Marc Zimmet, president of consulting firm Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, said he believes that delaying the inevitable […]
The new Medicare payment model for nursing homes provided $200 more per day than the system it replaced in October 2019, according to a new analysis of claims data — setting up a revenue bump at the time the sector needed it most. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) brought an average […]
In the early months of the pandemic, masks for medical personnel were in such short supply that providers, states, and the federal government were all bidding against each other to secure them. Gowns were so hard to come by that reports surfaced of nursing home workers using trash bags as makeshift coverings. The government attempted […]