Providers ‘very encouraged’ after meeting with CMS leader on nursing home reform
By
Danielle Brown
James M. Berklan
Mar 30, 2022
After initial dismay upon hearing the administration’s strategies for sweeping new nursing home reform plans last month, providers were more optimistic after meeting with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...
The 21st Century SNF: two paths forward
By
Anne Tumlinson
Jun 11, 2018
Many industry experts believe skilled nursing’s current marketshare challenges are temporary — that SNFs only have to hang on until demographic shifts kick in. But I worry about this strategy.
New COVID staffing study points to improved paradigm for SNFs against outbreaks
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 15, 2021
More is not always better, especially when talking about the number of employees in a nursing home trying to battle infectious outbreaks such as COVID-19, or even less dangerous annual influenza strains.
UPDATED: Healthcare worker vaccine mandate back on for 26 states
By
Danielle Brown
Dec 16, 2021
Long-term care providers in 26 states will still have to comply with a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate after a federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed a nationwide block against the rule.
BREAKING: Feds increase COVID-19 funding dedicated to nursing homes to nearly $10 billion
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 22, 2020
The administration will be more than doubling funding dedicated directly to nursing homes to fight the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to an additional $5 billion announced by President Trump at a briefing...
COVID-19 management: an executive’s firsthand experience
By
Darrin Hull
Sep 08, 2020
It was the call that every post-acute care operator most feared and that many ultimately received since early March — multiple positive results following housewide COVID-19 testing of residents. That...
Nurse ratios to drop
Apr 01, 2008
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) issued a mandate last month to lower the ratio of nurses to residents in nursing homes.
Feds’ ‘dramatic expansion’ of telehealth widens payment coverage; HIPAA rules are relaxed for COVID-19
By
James M. Berklan
Mar 18, 2020
The federal government removed Medicare restrictions for telehealth coverage nationwide Tuesday while also temporarily relaxing HIPAA obligations for providers. The latter opens the door for doctors’...
At the crossroads: Legal considerations where government investigations overlap with tort risk in long-term...
By
Tom Barnard
Jill Steinberg
May 19, 2020
Note: See full list of authors below story. In roughly the seventh week after a majority of states and the federal government issued emergency declarations or “lock down” executive orders,...
Therapy carnage at start of PDPM not as severe as feared: study
By
James M. Berklan
Mar 02, 2021
The first academic study of its kind has found that the first three months of nursing homes’ overhauled Medicare payment system at the end of 2019 led to a distinct drop-off in the employed number of...