Embezzlement scheme nets nursing home bookkeeper 2½-year prison term
By
John Hall
Mar 24, 2015
A 31-year bookkeeper for a Wisconsin nursing home received a 2½-year prison sentence and was ordered to repay $296,000 for siphoning funds from residents’ insurance proceeds in a decade-long spree.
Congress gets tough on EHR interoperability
By
John Hall
Mar 23, 2015
Providers using incompatible or uncertified electronic health record systems by the end of 2018 could face reduced Medicare reimbursements under a bill introduced Thursday in both houses of Congress.
LTC docs advise against incontinence catheters
By
John Hall
Mar 23, 2015
AMDA is advising long-term caregivers against using indwelling urinary catheters to manage urinary incontinence — one of five practices or tests that lack scientific evidence to support their use in...
Caregivers may be focusing on ‘futile’ measures: Brown study
By
John Hall
Mar 23, 2015
New research concludes that nursing home caregivers well-versed in palliative care tend to focus less on possibly futile “aggressive” life-saving measures.
Joint HHS, Justice efforts recoup $28 billion in Medicare payments
By
John Hall
Mar 19, 2015
The Justice Department announced on Thursday it had captured $3.3 billion from healthcare fraud prosecutions and other deals in 2014, bringing to nearly $28 billion the total amount it has recouped since...
Inspector General blasts agency for ignoring ZPIC scrutiny
By
John Hall
Mar 19, 2015
Ignoring a four-year-old warning to more thoroughly evaluate Medicare auditing contractors is among the pile of unheeded advice that could have saved the Medicare program billions of dollars in recent...
Proposed House budget would slash Medicaid by $913 billion
By
John Hall
Mar 19, 2015
Few have ever heard a federal budget referred to as a “moral document,” as one GOP budget committee lawmaker described it on Tuesday. That’s when the House unveiled a 10-year budget whose...
Analysis shows Obamacare has had little effect on large employers
By
John Hall
Mar 19, 2015
The Affordable Care Act has prompted few large companies to change or begin offering health insurance plans to their employees — because most already comply with the president’s signature healthcare...
House unanimously passes ‘observation status’ bill
By
John Hall
Mar 18, 2015
Long-term care leaders firmly applauded members of the U.S. House on Tuesday for unanimously passing a bill that would put tighter control over the designation of “observation status” for hospital...
Debate on permanent doc fix rages on
By
John Hall
Mar 18, 2015
Long-term care leaders continue to brace this week for news about any new plans to pay Medicare physicians, which might siphon pay from seniors’ caregivers. Medicare physicians face a 21% pay cut...