Minnesota lawmakers ax measure to ensure visitors access to nursing homes
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 24, 2024
As advocates work to advance a federal bill ensuring “essential caregivers” can visit nursing home residents even during emergencies, one state is taking the opposite stance.
Why CMS is shifting its infection control focus to sepsis
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 11, 2024
BALTIMORE — Quality experts at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will be taking a closer look at sepsis rates in nursing homes while continuing broader efforts to improve infection control,...
Top US health official takes more heat over nursing home staffing standards
By
Kimberly Marselas
Mar 22, 2024
For the second time in a week, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra faced a grilling on Capitol Hill over federal regulators’ plans to impose a nurse staffing minimum on all US nursing...
Backlogged hospitals want back into the nursing home business — without the hassles of ownership
By
Kimberly Marselas
May 08, 2024
Many hospitals and health systems that have cut back on their own skilled nursing capabilities over the last two decades are now looking to take back additional control over their post-acute processes.
New patient safety measures imminent as risk of harm evolves: CMS
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 10, 2024
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services remains acutely focused on patient harm and will introduce new measures addressing patient safety later this year, agency leaders said at an event in Baltimore...
EXTRA: CMS publishes rule outlining final staffing requirements
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 22, 2024
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it would exempt nursing homes from having registered nurse coverage for up to 8 out of 24 hours a day “under certain circumstances,” unveiling...
Cost, interpretation of new enhanced barrier precautions worry providers as rule kicks in
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 03, 2024
A new set of regulations requiring the use of enhanced barrier precautions for many nursing home patients has left providers scrambling to understand the rationale behind some standards and grappling with...
Nursing homes weigh pros, cons of new weight loss drugs as limited Medicare coverage kicks in
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 22, 2024
A recent decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to cover popular new weight loss drugs that provide additional health benefits could be a “game changer” for potentially thousands...
Behavior problems — not financial motivation — most often precede forced SNF discharges: OIG
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 04, 2024
Nursing homes most often initiated a discharge because a resident’s behavior endangered the resident or others in the facility, a rationale fully within their rights, a government watchdog reported Wednesday.
Consulate Healthcare CEO: We’re ‘growing our own’ to rebuild the brand
By
Kimberly Marselas
Mar 19, 2024
After virtually exiting Florida, where it dominated the skilled nursing landscape before a series of regulatory and legal challenges, Consulate Healthcare is repositioning itself as a quality provider...