‘Impossible’ Medicare Advantage denials decried during Senate hearing
By
Kimberly Marselas
May 18, 2023
A Senate subcommittee Wednesday sent letters to the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage insurers, demanding they reveal internal documents that illustrate how they make coverage determinations.
Sodium selenate found safe in early trial targeting frontotemporal dementia
By
Alicia Lasek
May 18, 2023
An early-stage study has found that sodium selenate is safe and well-tolerated in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia.
House COVID panel spreads nursing home blame, looks to next pandemic
By
Kimberly Marselas
May 18, 2023
Three years after the height of the pandemic forever transformed nursing homes, a new Congressional panel took a stab Wednesday at finding someone to blame for deadly COVID-19 miscalculations.
Switch to new MDS platform underpins feds’ growing drive for nursing home data
By
Kimberly Marselas
May 18, 2023
Providers should view the change to the iQies system as just the first step in an ongoing process to make it easier for federal regulators to gather and evaluate nursing home statistics.
Medicaid and leadership challenges, as state takes over nursing home
By
Jessica R. Towhey
May 17, 2023
A Rhode Island nursing home with more than 30 citations for deficiencies and whose administrator’s license was suspended last month has been put into state receivership.
Nursing home eviction review added to OIG work plan
By
Jessica R. Towhey
May 16, 2023
A federal watchdog will be taking a magnifying glass to the process of nursing home evictions. It will issue a report later this year on evictions, calling them a potentially “unsafe and traumatic experience”...
Doing well by doing good has certainly proven true for Lynne Katzmann.
Therapy association urges cautious use of telehealth until HHS responds
By
James M. Berklan
May 15, 2023
Therapy leaders are advising physical and occupational therapists, as well as speech language pathologists, to minimize their use of telehealth in nursing homes and other institutional settings until federal...
State’s nursing homes to see 33% Medicaid rate increase, exec says
By
Jessica R. Towhey
May 15, 2023
Montana nursing homes will see an approximate 33% increase in Medicaid rates phased in over two years, said one of the sector’s leading advocates, but it remains to be seen whether even that will be...
Program that diagnosed fractures virtually led to fewer ER visits for LTC residents: study
By
Alicia Lasek
May 14, 2023
A program that enabled virtual diagnosis and on-site fracture care kept 100% of participating LTC residents out of the emergency department and cut the need for clinic visits, a new study reveals.