OIG partly blames CMS for Life Care Centers deficiencies
By
Joe Bush
Sep 20, 2022
A federal watchdog said a lack of communication by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may have caused infection control deficiency citations at Life Care Centers of America nursing homes between...
Healthcare worker vaccination mandate could end after a military vax withdrawal
By
Joe Bush
Dec 06, 2022
Two national vaccine mandates, including the one affecting most nursing home workers, are under attack and could face reversal.
CMS, OIG agree on increasing scrutiny of psychotropic drug use
By
Joe Bush
Nov 18, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will be increasing its oversight of the use of psychotropic drugs to pay closer attention to certain classes, warned the lead author of a federal report identifying...
Congress may give providers 2-year relief on CMS physician fee cuts
By
Joe Bush
Dec 01, 2022
Congress appears to be ready to soften proposed Medicare physician pay cuts and might make its aid good for two years instead of one.
SCOTUS denies nursing home petition, keeping COVID care cases out of federal court — for now
By
Joe Bush
Nov 22, 2022
Lawsuits against nursing homes for allegedly failing to treat residents properly during the pandemic are more likely to be heard now in state and not federal courts. That’s one conclusion after the US...
Providers warned: Ongoing relief fund audits may bring unprecedented info demands
By
Joe Bush
Nov 21, 2022
Provider Relief Fund audits have started in earnest, with the threat of federal investigators demanding more and different data than most skilled nursing providers have ever been asked to account for.
Study isolates nursing home leaders’ unique COVID-era stressors
By
Joe Bush
Nov 10, 2022
Excessive feelings of guilt, extra infection control precautions, unprecedented long work hours and personal healthcare sacrifices were common among nursing home leaders during the height of the pandemic,...
For-profit providers still on hot seat in final House COVID report
By
Joe Bush
Dec 12, 2022
Months after its first attack, a key House COVID subcommittee on Friday targeted five of the nation’s five largest for-profit nursing home companies over low staffing and wages and slow vaccine booster...
SNFs have made great strides in preventing, treating COVID, docs say
By
Joe Bush
Oct 14, 2022
Nursing facilities are now highly skilled at preventing COVID-19 illness and staving off serious outcomes, said doctors in a panel discussion this week. But pandemic challenges linger.