Updated palliative care guidelines: Providers should increase coordination, embrace QAPI
By
McKnight's Staff
Apr 15, 2013
Palliative care should follow care coordination and quality improvement processes called for by the Affordable Care Act, according to updated guidelines from the National Consensus Project for Quality...
Long-term care pharmacy groups propose changes to make short-cycle dispensing more efficient, cost-effective
By
McKnight's Staff
Feb 05, 2013
Long-term care pharmacies are struggling with an Affordable Care Act provision related to short-cycle dispensing of brand name oral solid drugs, according to a recent letter from the Long Term Care Pharmacy...
State Medicaid spending growth, enrollment reach near record lows, report finds
By
McKnight's Staff
Oct 25, 2012
Medicaid enrollment growth fell to 3.2% in 2012, compared to 4.4% in 2011. Government spending growth on Medicaid slowed to 2% in 2012, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation Commission on Medicaid and...
Critics of nursing-home hospices suspicious of revenue
Jan 31, 2011
When a major lobbying group trumpeted the long-term care industry’s status as an economic and job-creating powerhouse last week, critics took the opportunity to press for further inquiries into how...
Senate takes out therapy caps, physician pay provisions from jobs bill
Feb 16, 2010
Just hours after unveiling a jobs bill that would extend the therapy caps exceptions process and delay a pay cut for Medicare physicians, Senate leaders last week scrapped it in favor of a bill that contains...
Report: Nursing home stocks weathering economy OK, but reimbursement concerns loom
Apr 27, 2009
At least a handful of for-profit nursing home companies’ stock values are holding strong, despite an overall shaky economy, a new Dow Jones report notes. The key has been relatively stable Medicare...
Bill would grant states money to pay for background checks for nursing home employees
Mar 20, 2009
(Editor’s note: In an earlier version of this story, we reported that providers would be responsible for paying for fees associated with employee background checks. That is not necessarily the case....
Obama budget would cut $316 billion over 10 years from Medicare
Feb 26, 2009
President Obama’s budget plan for fiscal year 2010, which he plans to release today, would trim $316 billion over 10 years from Medicare.
CMS halts 75% Rule at 60% level, disappointing nursing homes
Aug 11, 2008
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a regulation Friday that reduces the 75% Rule pertaining to inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) to 60%.
LTC commission issues warning, few solid plans
By
Haymarket Media
Dec 04, 2007
A 22-member bipartisan panel headed by former U.S. lawmakers warned on Monday that the country is not ready to fund, yet alone care for, its growing wave of elderly residents.