Survey: Most nursing home administrators say background checks are helpful, efficient
Feb 10, 2012
Criminal background checks have not been found to significantly limit the quantity or quality of candidates for nursing home jobs, a top nursing home advocate says. A recent government survey of nursing...
Long-term care stakeholders submit quality measures performance report to HHS
Feb 07, 2012
As required by the Affordable Care Act, the National Quality Forum convened the Measure Applications Partnership (MAP) to develop a coordinated performance measurement approach across PAC and LTC settings.
OIG: Cutting Medicare and Medicaid fraud still a top concern
Feb 03, 2012
Eliminating Medicare and Medicaid fraud should be a priority for the Department of Health and Human Services as it works to implement healthcare reform programs, according to a new report.
Catholic nursing homes will be affected by HHS contraception regulation
Feb 02, 2012
About 500 Catholic nursing homes in the United States will be affected by a regulation requiring employer health insurance plans to cover contraceptive services.
Report: HHS has missed critical quality measure development deadlines
Jan 19, 2012
The Department of Health and Human Services is in danger of missing critical deadlines in developing the quality measures used to evaluate the Affordable Care Act’s cost-savings initiatives, a government...
House GOP continue with CLASS repeal efforts
Jan 18, 2012
With Congress back in session, House Republicans are back at trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s disability insurance benefit.
Alzheimer’s experts to finalize Obama administration taskforce plan
Jan 17, 2012
A panel of Alzheimer’s experts is kicking off a two-day meeting in Washington today to formalize an Obama administration goal of developing effective ways to treat and prevent Alzheimer’s by...
Nursing home quality measures should address short-stay rehab residents, group says
Jan 13, 2012
The set of quality measures used on Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare website should be updated to include more measures for short-stay rehabilitation residents, according to one panel of experts....
CMS announces new bundled payment initiative for Medicare providers
Aug 24, 2011
A new initiative under the Affordable Care Act will provide bundled payments to healthcare providers — including post-acute facilities — to improve the coordination of care of Medicare beneficiaries...
GAO: Medicare spent $48 billion on improper fee-for-service payments
Jul 29, 2011
The federal government spent nearly $48 billion on improper Medicare payments in 2010 according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The report was released just prior to a House...