CMS: Nursing home Medicare cuts helped keep healthcare spending at historic low levels
By
Tim Mullaney
Jan 07, 2014
Dramatic Medicare cuts to skilled nursing facilities played a significant part in keeping healthcare spending low in 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Monday.
The safety net for seniors
By
James Lomastro
Jan 02, 2014
Healthcare reform, especially the expansion of Medicaid, will bring into focus the fragility of the safety net. This is a system that is for vulnerable seniors, but which has not been adequately financed.
Newly endorsed quality measure assesses Medicare costs for a whole episode of care
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 18, 2013
The National Quality Forum has endorsed a controversial hospital quality measure that assesses Medicare costs for a whole episode of care, including time spent in post-acute settings, the organization...
First-ever CDC report: Nursing homes provide most long-term care nationwide, alternative settings gain...
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 13, 2013
Nursing homes still account for the vast majority of long-term care services available in the United States despite policies meant to encourage home- and community-based care, according to a new government...
MedPAC renews call for long-term care payment cuts, draws fire from providers
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 13, 2013
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has recommended a 4% reduction in skilled nursing facility payments in 2016, prompting an outcry from providers.
CMS updates Medicare manual to reflect Jimmo settlement
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 10, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has revised the Medicare Benefit Policy manual to clarify that skilled care and skilled therapy may be covered even for conditions that will not improve, per...
Dedicated observation stay units could protect nursing home benefits, save hospitals $1 billion annually,...
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 06, 2013
Specialized hospital units for patients under observation status could dramatically reduce the number of seniors forced to pay out-of-pocket for skilled nursing care, according to findings in the current...
I pay dead people
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Nov 12, 2013
On Oct. 31 (an ironic coincidence?) a report from the Office of inspector General frighteningly said Medicare paid some $23 million in benefits for more than 17,000 dead people in 2011. And my husband...
Young people becoming more realistic about future long-term care needs, survey finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Nov 06, 2013
Younger people are more informed about long-term care financing and are more likely to be saving for their future needs than older Americans, according to a recent national survey.
An expensive doorstop
By
John O'Connor
Nov 01, 2013
It’s hard to reflect on the Commission on Long-Term Care’s recently submitted report without getting hacked off. To call it a fool’s errand would be to insult misdirected dimwits.