Dementia mortality skyrockets since lockdowns; CMS loosens visitor restrictions
By
Alicia Lasek
Sep 18, 2020
An excessive number of deaths due to dementia have occurred since shelter-in-place orders went into effect this spring, a new analysis finds. Meanwhile, CMS has proposed a framework for nursing homes...
BREAKING: Supreme Court speeds vax mandates to Jan. 7 hearing
By
James M. Berklan
Dec 22, 2021
The U.S. Supreme Court took the unusual step of announcing Wednesday night that it would hear arguments over the administration’s COVID-19 worker vaccine mandate on Jan. 7, three days before it was originally...
Pressure mounting on CMS to exclude COVID vaccination data in quality reporting
By
Danielle Brown
Jun 18, 2021
More long-term care stakeholders are calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to ditch its proposal to expand the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program to include staff COVID-19...
Mandated minimum staffing would cost nursing homes $10 billion annually
By
Danielle Brown
Jul 20, 2022
Providers would have to spend an additional $10 billion more per year and hire more than 187,000 new workers to meet requirements of one possible federal minimum staffing approach, according to a new analysis.
BREAKING: CMS wallops nursing homes with planned staffing requirements and increased penalties
By
Danielle Brown
Feb 28, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will establish minimum staffing requirements for skilled nursing facilities as part of a plan to “crack down on unsafe nursing homes,” the White House announced...
Providers: CMS should first fortify skilled nursing workforce before imposing minimum staffing measures
By
Danielle Brown
Jun 07, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must first help the long-term care industry build up its workforce before implementing a national minimum staffing standard for nursing homes, many providers...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services appears to be weighing changes to its nursing home room capacity standards, based on recommendations included in updated guidance released Wednesday.
$3T stimulus proposal calls for MFAR delay, 14% FMAP increase, $500M SNF ‘strike team’ fund
By
Danielle Brown
May 14, 2020
A Medicaid proposal that providers say could cut up to $50 billion nationwide from the program annually would be barred from being finalized during the coronavirus pandemic under a $3 trillion stimulus...
CMS releases provider COVID-19 case, death totals to consumers on Nursing Home Compare
By
Danielle Brown
Jun 05, 2020
The number of coronavirus deaths and cases among facility’s residents and workers is now publicly available on the Nursing Home Compare website, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced...
County COVID-19 rates will dictate staff testing frequency, new CMS guidance says
By
Liza Berger
Aug 27, 2020
Routine testing of staff now will be based on the level of COVID-19 activity in the community. That’s according to official new guidance released Wednesday in response to federal regulatory changes disclosed...