Memorial Day weekend usually ushers in a feeling of lightness, but I’m weighed down by uncertainty this year. Will it be a summer of discontent?
It’s time to put up or shut up on vaccine mandates
By
James M. Berklan
Aug 20, 2021
Will Wednesday’s White House announcement that COVID-19 vaccinations will be mandated for nursing home employees be a dealbreaker? It depends.
CMS gives providers a mug with a gift card
By
Elizabeth Newman
Nov 28, 2017
Never have Rolling Stones’ lyrics come faster into my head than when I saw the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would give an 18-month enforcement delay for certain Phase 2 regulations.
In the year 2025, will population health finally be real?
By
Martie Moore
Feb 14, 2022
To make population health real, we must get real about what it will take to achieve the outcomes we all want.
A Medicare Advantage fix: What took so long?
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 12, 2024
Providers hoping that policy makers might some day show some backbone when dealing with Medicare Advantage plans can take heart. Well, at least a little.
One more spin around the dance floor before CMS takes its bow
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 16, 2024
It’s the annual coming out season for the nursing home brass at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who’ve recently been spotted at two provider conferences and filled a whole day’s agenda...
CMS did more than ‘just’ cut Medicare pay by 11.1%
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Aug 19, 2011
Have you started your COT trending analysis? On Aug. 8, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the final ruling and commentary for the new implementation of the MDS changes set to take effect...
Has CMS gone too far?
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Sep 27, 2011
Previously, I’ve explained my position on the new rehab regulation changes to take effect on Saturday (Oct. 1). However, has CMS gone too far this time?
The end of fee for service
By
Mark Fish
Sep 12, 2014
The seeds that have flowered into the burgeoning of ACOs – groups of providers accepting the responsibility, and risk, for caring for the health of a designated patient population according to defined...
Reducing emotion in long-term care
By
Elizabeth Newman
Aug 14, 2014
Long-term care may be a calling, but it’s still a job, and it’s an industry that would be served by a reduction of emotion. That’s especially true when discussing the government, which...