Investors see demand for SNF properties steady or growing this year
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 18, 2019
Some 73% of investors think demand for skilled nursing properties will either hold steady or increase over 2018, according to a national survey on healthcare markets released Monday. That’s an improvement...
One-third of nursing homes cannot meet behavioral health needs
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 09, 2019
Behavioral health needs are going unmet in as many as one-third of the nation’s nursing homes, while almost half employ staff without adequate behavioral health education.
Special Focus Facilities label not a poison pill for savvy nursing home operators
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 07, 2019
The publicity surrounding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ “worst performers” list this week has wrongly painted some providers into a bleak corner, defenders say. An operation with...
Nursing home staffing shortages will lead to fines under ‘historic’ new law
By
James M. Berklan
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 07, 2019
Nursing home workers are cheering passage of a bill that will penalize providers who under-staff their facilities, and in what might be a surprise to some, operators are also taking a supporting position...
Thin-skinned
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 06, 2019
BAndrew Applewhite’s patient had HIV and diabetes. She needed dialysis, but she had used up all the days in her Medicare stay and was discharged from a Texas skilled nursing facility. That the patient...
CMS, nursing homes reassure on quality amid ‘poor performance’ hubbub
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 06, 2019
Nursing homes’ top regulatory body announced Wednesday that it will soon begin posting the identities of all candidates for the Special Focus Facility initiative on a consumer-facing website. The Centers...
Key House leader eyes Medigap expansion for long-term care
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 05, 2019
The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee would consider allowing popular Medigap insurance plans to offer long-term care provisions for seniors.
Joint bundle pushes costs down — at SNFs’ expense
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 04, 2019
The first two years of a mandatory payment bundle for joint replacements saved Medicare more than 2% annually, but much of it came through reduced payments to post-acute providers.
Senate pressure reveals larger national list of poor-quality nursing homes
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 04, 2019
Congressional inquiries led Monday to the public disclosure of hundreds of nursing homes considered candidates for the Special Focus Facility program.
More than half of fines and settlements from $2.3 billion recouped through healthcare fraud investigations went back into Medicare Trust Funds last year, according to a report issued Friday.