The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services brought out its equivalent of a brass band and confetti machine Tuesday to tout a new provider payment strategy. One could almost hear strains of “Happy...
Judge slaps nationwide freeze on healthcare worker COVID vax mandate
By
James M. Berklan
Dec 01, 2021
A Louisiana federal judge on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration’s mandate that says all healthcare workers involved in the Medicare or Medicaid programs must be...
CMS lowers pay hike for skilled nursing facilities to 1.2%
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 31, 2015
Medicare skilled nursing facilities would get a net 1.2% pay increase — totaling $430 million — in fiscal 2016 under a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services late Thursday.
What we have here is a failure to capitulate
By
James M. Berklan
Mar 08, 2011
The saga of Donald Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services took an interesting, if not sadly predictable, turn last week. Opponents of his patron, President Obama, called...
CMS releases additional direction on transferring, discharging coronavirus residents
By
Danielle Brown
James M. Berklan
Apr 14, 2020
Certified long-term care facilities looking to transfer or discharge residents between themselves for the purposes of cohorting do not need additional approval to do so, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...
Progress in trying to undo the hospital ‘observation stay’ mess
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 31, 2013
What is this world coming to? When you complain about bizarre government conditions or regulations, you usually have to assume you’re just whispering into the wind.
Will there be a ‘real’ CMS administrator soon? It’s looking so
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 03, 2013
If you’re a gambling person, it looks like the odds just got a whole lot better for Marilyn Tavenner becoming the next administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That’s...
Foresight and flexibility the keys to COVID-19 survival, top exec says
By
James M. Berklan
May 04, 2020
As long-term care providers continue to struggle with the deadly implications of COVID-19, hesitation could be their biggest threat, says one of the profession’s top leaders.
Push to decrease antipsychotics use has only just begun
By
James M. Berklan
Mar 14, 2012
If you feel like you’ve been reading a lot about antipsychotics lately, you’re not alone.
A possible escape from the nursing home staffing mandate?
By
James M. Berklan
May 14, 2023
There may be a silver lining to the excruciating wait providers are enduring for the White House’s nursing home staffing mandate.