PEPPER’s pause doesn’t wipe out prospects for nursing home self-monitoring
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 06, 2024
Federal regulators have suspended a key tool used by some nursing homes for internal auditing, but experts cautioned providers not to let the stoppage hinder their compliance efforts.
Study testing new strategy for spotting, managing pain in dementia patients
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 01, 2024
Up to 80% of dementia patients living in nursing homes also experience pain, but many struggle to communicate their symptoms. A new study aims to test recently revised guidelines for staff members tasked...
‘Appalling’ gaps in law, policies blamed for COVID’s decimation of nursing home workers
By
Kathleen Steele Gaivin
Feb 01, 2024
A reason for the failure, the authors said, was gaps in laws and regulations that didn’t consider the rapid spread of disease in workplaces and didn’t see frontline workers as needing special attention...
The doctor will see you … when? Regs, reimbursement delay SNF patient access
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 31, 2024
Nursing home patients who see a clinician soon after admission have a lower chance of returning to the hospital regardless of prognosis, a recent study on physician access finds.
Moving nursing home staff in as residents has life-changing potential: experts
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 31, 2024
Staff who take up residence in a nursing home for even just a few days are better equipped to transform care delivery and how the actual residents experience it, two experts who have tried the technique...
CMS must ‘ease burdens’ if it wants more long-stay residents in value-based care: report
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 29, 2024
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must do more to move states away from an “extremely bifurcated” Medicare and Medicaid system that sometimes leaves dually eligible beneficiaries confused...
‘Crying wolf’ or dying breed? Incentives often ignore plight of rural skilled nursing operators
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 29, 2024
As hundreds of nursing homes have shuttered in the last few years, the very strategies meant to prop up the sector have often left the most isolated, resource-strapped facilities with nothing gained.
A key Medicaid advisory body appears ready to recommend new appeal opportunities for millions of Managed Medicaid beneficiaries and to add more oversight to better ensure plans cover medically necessary...
Nursing home that took in dozens after local closure now fears for its own health
By
Josh Henreckson
Jan 26, 2024
The high cost of caring for skilled nursing patients is squeezing finances at Upstate New York’s Heritage Ministries after it took in a majority of residents from the closing Lutheran Home and Rehabilitation...
CMS: Expect final nursing home staffing rule this year
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 23, 2024
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services plans to finalize its minimum staffing rule for nursing homes during 2024, an official confirmed Tuesday during a national stakeholder call.