Individual therapy services are seeing a huge spike across skilled care settings, according to a new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report. The shift seems to reveal how a change in payment rules...
Don’t consolidate quality groups to regionals: AHCA
By
James M. Berklan
Sep 01, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should not waver from its long-standing support of state-based quality improvement organizations, the American Health Care Association and nearly 50 other organizations...
Triple pill cuts blood pressure
By
Marty Stempniak
Apr 08, 2018
A pill combining low doses of three blood pressure-reducing medications significantly increased the number of patients reaching blood pressure targets, compared with usual care. About 70% of patients in...
Common issue: ACO confusion
By
Elizabeth Newman
Nov 01, 2011
Healthcare providers are struggling to decipher new approaches to reimbursement, including accountable care organizations, according to a new survey.
Latest funding deal sidesteps fiscal cliff
By
John O'Connor
Feb 01, 2013
Providers generally lauded a deal that kept the nation from going over the so-called fiscal cliff in January. Spared were automatic Medicare cuts to physicians and facilities.
Nursing homes rally against reform cuts
By
Liza Berger
Sep 01, 2009
Long-term care associations launched grassroots campaigns last month to lobby against proposed Medicare cuts.
Trump card: ACA’s future now in doubt
By
Elizabeth Newman
Dec 06, 2016
While President-elect Donald J. Trump has promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, long-term care experts noted that coordinated care for seniors is likely to remain a priority under him.
Providers accused of profit-hiding schemes
By
James M. Berklan
Feb 09, 2018
Nursing home critics are driving for deeper investigation into how operators “reward” themselves with lucrative self-dealing contracts while allegedly keeping staffing levels low.
Just a minute! RCS-1 timing is still up in air
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 08, 2018
No timeline has been set for finalizing or implementing a major replacement payment system for therapy patients, a federal official revealed on a national conference call in early March. The Centers for...
LTC nurses likeliest to want new setting
By
John O'Connor
Jun 01, 2014
Most nurses find their work rewarding and satisfying. But nurses in the long-term care sector appear to be the most likely to want employment in a different setting, according to a survey from CareerBuilder...