CMS memo: ‘Dramatic staff losses’ not happening due to vax requirements
By
James M. Berklan
Feb 02, 2022
Declaring once again that “Vaccine requirements work,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on Tuesday urged healthcare facility administrators to increase...
Providers tell CMS it’s ‘decidedly’ the wrong time to toy with PDPM rates
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 03, 2021
Providers need more time before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would implement any adjustments to PDPM payment rates, operators and associations have told the agency in official comments.
CMS restricts coverage of Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm to clinical trials
By
Alicia Lasek
Apr 08, 2022
Coverage of aducanumab (Aduhelm) is officially limited to clinical trials only, the agency announced Thursday. Most stakeholders have called for restricted use while more efficacy and safety data is gathered,...
Kansas losing $350,000 for not enforcing healthcare worker vaccine mandate
By
Danielle Brown
Mar 31, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is cutting Kansas’ Medicaid funding by nearly $350,000 for not enforcing the federal healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccine mandate in nursing homes and hospitals.
‘Balance has tipped’: It’s time to ease up on visitation regulations, nursing homes tell feds
By
Danielle Brown
Feb 25, 2021
Long-term care providers are calling on the federal government to remove regulations that base nursing home indoor visitations on COVID-19 positivity rates in the area now that vaccine coverage is widespread...
First vaccine deadline arrives for healthcare workers in half the nation
By
Danielle Brown
Jan 28, 2022
Surveyors can now evaluate long-term care providers’ compliance with a federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate covering healthcare workers in half of the United States. Many long-term care providers are ready...
CMS ‘getting pretty close’ to releasing details of COVID-19 vaccination mandate
By
James M. Berklan
Oct 05, 2021
Long-term care providers and other healthcare employers remain in the dark as to what will be required with the federal government’s impending COVID-19 vaccination mandate for employees.
Stop the ‘siloed’ policy making for skilled nursing
By
Alan G. Rosenbloom
Mar 21, 2012
Last week, three reports issued by three separate government agencies made incongruent recommendations — or no recommendations at all — related to skilled nursing facility (SNF) patient care and policy....
BREAKING: CMS says all healthcare staff must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 04, 2021
Long-term care staff must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 under a new healthcare worker vaccination rule released early Thursday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
CMS doubles down: Surveyors do not have to be COVID vaccinated
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 07, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has held audiences with skilled nursing providers, made presentations and entertained comments in recent months to assure operators that regulatory actions...