CMS proposal offers long-awaited fix for Medicare Advantage appeals
By
Kimberly Marselas
Nov 08, 2023
Skilled nursing providers would get a new, improved appeals process for Medicare Advantage denials under a proposal issued late Monday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
CMS outlines 4-pronged minimum staffing study
By
Kimberly Marselas
Aug 23, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Monday revealed more details about how it will use nursing home site visits, data and other tools to formulate a minimum staffing standard, one that is meant...
Warning on staffing minimum: Studying costs won’t matter if pay doesn’t add up
By
Kimberly Marselas
Aug 30, 2022
Cost analysis will be “an important part” of a final report on federal minimum staffing standards, the head of a national study assured nursing home stakeholders Monday.
Risk-bearing execs: Operators need to ‘make some noise’ to make some money
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 10, 2021
Skilled nursing providers looking to take on risk for long-term viability need to start getting creative, warn two executives in the business of connecting payers and providers in value-based partnerships.
‘We will not go back’ to early pandemic restriction, CMS leader says
By
Kimberly Marselas
Joe Bush
Oct 17, 2022
Promoting a return to normalcy, a top CMS official said Sunday that nursing homes will not return to the stringent isolation policies of the early pandemic.
As CMS tightens vise on Medicare Advantage, providers argue for even more help
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 15, 2023
Forty-five days after proposing changes that attempt to rein in some of the most-criticized practices of Medicare Advantage plans, federal officials now must filter through nearly 1,000 formal comments.
CMS to begin audits for schizophrenia coding, says citations will affect quality ratings
By
Alicia Lasek
Jan 19, 2023
The agency will start auditing nursing homes this month to determine whether residents’ schizophrenia diagnoses are accurate and appropriately coded. A pattern of inaccurate coding may result in a quality...
Feds’ spotlight on owners could detract from patient focus, experts warn
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 21, 2022
An effort to improve transparency into nursing home ownership took a major leap forward when federal officials posted previously non-public data Wednesday. But providers and legal experts cautioned that...
CMS prods hospitals to improve discharge info for SNFs, home health
By
James M. Berklan
Jun 07, 2023
Hospitals’ shortcomings in providing post-acute care providers with adequate discharge information prompted federal regulators to issue a special memo Tuesday.
Extended survey delays threaten providers
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 25, 2022
When a major government watchdog blasted the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in January for a lack of timely survey activity, it detailed extensively what providers on the ground were experiencing...