Congress mulls Medicaid-Medicare pay parity, and end of ‘doc fixes’
By
John Hall
Mar 16, 2015
Long-term care providers are closely monitoring two major lawmaking efforts in Washington this week that have both chambers of Congress debating a plan to end annual Medicare cuts and abolish painful “fixes”...
Regulators delaying new MDS 3.0 nursing home payment system to ‘minimize confusion’
Mar 06, 2009
Federal healthcare regulators on Thursday announced a sweeping round of delays for an updated tool to enhance the nursing home payment system. The rollout of MDS 3.0 is now targeted for October 2010 and...
AARP urges lawmakers to exempt Medicare from tax bill cuts
By
Dec 11, 2017
One of the nation’s largest senior advocacy groups is warning lawmakers of the “lasting impact” of Medicare cuts that would be potentially included in the GOP’s final tax reform...
CMS discharge program isn’t reaching those with highest readmission risks: study
By
Kristen Fischer
Mar 22, 2024
A new report took a deeper dive to see if the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ transitional care management (TCM) program is reaching those most at risk. Even though the program is designed to...
NJ physicians to face charges that they kept people as inpatients to qualify them for SNF coverage, judge...
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 03, 2014
A whistleblower can continue to pursue charges that a number of New Jersey physicians improperly designated Medicare beneficiaries as inpatients and sometimes prolonged their hospital stay to qualify them...
On the road to rationed healthcare
By
C.E. Nash
Apr 14, 2011
The Obama administration has determined that we will be able to supply healthcare to several million additional people without increasing the cost of doing so, and with no plan in place to increase the...
Preserving the status quo costs more than ever
By
John O'Connor
Nov 16, 2012
As $6 billion investments go, the 2012 presidential and Congressional races didn’t deliver much of a return. Except, of course, for people who like to spend money in order to keep things the way...
When it comes to paying for long-term care, public and private options can both fail
By
John O'Connor
Oct 07, 2013
What happened last week in Washington was not exactly highlight reel material. That is, unless you want to showcase public sector dysfunction.
Federal proposal would permanently expand some Medicare telehealth services
By
Danielle Brown
Jun 15, 2021
Medicare nursing home residents would keep their access to some telehealth flexibilities adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic long after the public health crisis is over under a new proposal from a bipartisan...
The overlooked elephant in the room
By
John O'Connor
Jan 11, 2021
Almost lost amid the chaos and carnage depicted when an angry mob descended on the U.S. Capitol last week was a development that may affect long-term care more directly.