Senior care scores some wins in congressional budget deal
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 21, 2022
A Congressional spending package for fiscal year 2023 supports key healthcare policy requests important to long-term care industry stakeholders, saving some clinicians and services from feared cuts.
Lawmakers pushing CMS to ease Medicare Advantage prior authorizations
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 26, 2023
Close to 300 members of Congress are urging federal regulators to do more to reduce burdensome Medicare Advantage requirements that can slow delivery of care to nursing home and other patients.
Nearly half of states now using Medicaid to boost direct-care pay
By
Joe Bush
Nov 04, 2022
At least 19 states are actively implementing strategies to address direct care worker wages through reporting and/or enforcement mechanisms, a report issued this week by the National Governors Association...
Nursing homes becoming ‘loss leaders’ as they struggle with funds, staffing, sector leaders say
By
Joe Bush
Oct 18, 2022
DENVER – Faced with unmitigated financial pressures, nursing home operators might follow in the footsteps of group home providers who left the sector in droves in recent years, a LeadingAge leader warned...
$96M Medicaid funding gap menaces state’s facilities, threatens closures
By
Josh Henreckson
Jan 17, 2024
Persistent and growing Medicaid funding gaps have pushed Maine long-term care leaders to request urgent relief from the state government. The LTC reimbursement shortfall has expanded to $96 million dollars,...
Proposal would help more providers reduce civil monetary penalties
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 07, 2023
Providers who don’t plan to appeal a civil monetary penalty but fail to file a hearing waiver would still be in line for a fee reduction under a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposal issued...
Race, ethnicity help determine which controllable risk factors for dementia have biggest impacts
By
Kristen Fischer
Jan 18, 2024
Controllable risk factors that factor into Alzheimer’s or dementia cases play varying roles based on someone’s race and ethnicity, a new study shows.
Nursing homes targeted for more oversight, despite state’s ‘chronically underfunded’ facilities
By
Josh Henreckson
Mar 04, 2024
The tug of war between nursing home patient advocates and long-term care providers continued last week as a leading Rhode Island advocacy group threw its support behind a pair of bills that would tighten...
MedPAC to recommend 3 percent skilled nursing cut to Congress
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 13, 2023
A Congressional advisory commission on Thursday recommended a 3% cut to Medicare base payments for skilled nursing facilities in 2024.
Consumer advocates call for more CMS audits of nursing homes over related-party activity
By
Josh Henreckson
Feb 09, 2024
A new consumer advocacy report is calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to increase its scrutiny of nursing homes and their business dealings with related-party companies.