Funding issues hit the spotlight as nursing home advocates gear up for Aging Committee hearing
Mar 03, 2009
The Senate Special Committee on Aging will convene tomorrow to discuss the inclusion of improvements to long-term care as part of overarching national healthcare reform.
Experts favor new payment system rewarding higher quality and more efficient care
Nov 04, 2008
A new survey of healthcare leaders finds that almost all feel the current healthcare payment system is fundamentally flawed and must be reformed. An overwhelming majority favor bonuses for high-quality...
Survey: Average cost of private nursing home room drops in 2008
Oct 29, 2008
The charge for a private nursing home room in 2008 dropped about a half percentage point over a year earlier, while the national average for a semi-private bed rose just 1.1%, according to a new national...
Medicaid reform pilot to enhance choices confuses beneficiaries
Oct 17, 2008
A Florida pilot program designed to give Medicare beneficiaries more choice and control concerning their healthcare plans has led to more confusion than anything else, according to a recent review by the...
States react to OIG nursing home deficiency report
Oct 03, 2008
After the release of a recent Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General report on nursing home violations, states are coming out in defense of their records.
Tougher economy means greater likelihood of Medicaid cuts, Kaiser survey reveals
Oct 01, 2008
A new survey of state officials shows that increasing budget pressures could lead states to start clicking down their Medicaid programs. Most have resisted cuts thus far, but the odds of that continuing...
States fail to report troubled Medicaid providers to OIG, report finds
Aug 14, 2008
States are not reporting those Medicaid providers that have been suspended or excluded from their state programs, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector...
Nursing homes lukewarm to government’s new five-star rating system
Jun 19, 2008
Nursing home operators wasted little time Wednesday issuing rebuttals to the federal government’s announcement that it would create and publish individual facility rankings on its Web site by the...
Providers: Survey shows lack of support for lawmakers favoring Medicare cuts
Jun 04, 2008
Two-thirds of voters polled said they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress if he or she supports Medicare reforms that would lessen payments to nursing homes by $5 billion over five years....
News analysis: Medicare deficit rose by $1.2 trillion last year
May 20, 2008
The federal government accrued $2.5 trillion in new financial obligations to entitlement programs last year, far surpassing the reported figures of $162 billion, according to a new analysis from USA Today.