The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently issued a proposed rule addressing how it will implement the 60-day deadline for returning overpayments made to federal health programs. If fully adopted,...
Eliminating the “Black Hole”: Transitions of care
By
Donald Quinn, M.D.
Aug 12, 2013
In the early days of hospitalist medicine, we described the period between hospital discharge and follow-up at the skilled nursing facility, long-term care acute care hospital or a primary care physician...
CMS should be careful in what it asks for
By
Brendan Williams
Dec 23, 2022
Those in the nursing home sector are worried a potential staffing mandate imposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could be the ruination of a reeling sector. However, there is an argument...
Where were YOU when CMS changed the Five-Star rating system?
By
Steven Littlehale
Mar 20, 2015
Some things will always stay etched in our mind. Where were you on February 12, when CMS publicly announced immediate changes to the Five Star Quality Rating System for Nursing Homes?
The Smell Test
By
Gary Tetz
Feb 15, 2013
Over in South Korea, precocious robots have been sniffing the air at a few nursing home test sites and neutralizing unwelcome odors. Or at least they were, but now have probably been reassigned to nose...
Antibiotics in LTC: Changing from ‘Just in case’ to ‘Only when needed’
By
Philip D. Sloane, M.D., MPH and Sheryl Zimmerman, Ph.D.
Mar 01, 2017
Prior to the discovery of antibiotics, the most common cause of death was infection. There was no good treatment for pneumonia, complications of urine or ear infections were common, and many people died...
The ABCs of documenting CPT
By
Renee Kinder
May 06, 2021
It’s that time of year again when the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel meets with the task of ensuring its codes remain up to date.
RCS-1 CMS Case-Mix Rule
By
Renee Kinder
May 04, 2017
There is a new horse in town and it goes by the name of RCS-1.
The benefits of a successful discharge plan
By
Susan LaGrange
Jun 20, 2014
It is critical to have a solid system for discharge planning that begins even before the resident is admitted to the facility. Individualized, resident-centered discharge planning will provide a solid...
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...