CMS issues new MDS 3.0 schedule — and quickly recalls it
Apr 13, 2009
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last week posted on its Web site a new schedule for the planned October 2010 rollout of the new MDS 3.0. But the agency quickly removed it the same day.
CMS to test cash incentives for nursing home quality, efficiency efforts
Mar 30, 2009
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Friday announced a new, four-state demonstration project to test whether cash incentives will help improve quality and efficiency in nursing homes.
New bills would provide nursing homes with funding for disaster relief and sprinkler systems
Mar 25, 2009
One new federal bill would expand the scope of disaster relief to include for-profit nursing homes, while another would help fund the installation of sprinkler systems.
TWO DAYS AND COUNTING: Expo session on IT comes on heels of naming of new national health information...
Mar 23, 2009
Long-term care providers are liable to hear the name David Blumenthal, M.D., a lot in the coming months and years if all goes as planned at the Department of Health and Human Services. On Friday, HHS named...
Rockefeller: Give MedPAC more power
Mar 23, 2009
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the agency that advises Congress on Medicare reimbursement issues, should have the authority to implement its own decisions, suggested Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)...
Officials rap home healthcare providers over fraudulent billing, abusive practices
Mar 17, 2009
Home healthcare, the fast-growing destination for many individuals who previously might have sought nursing home care, has been besieged by a spate of fraudulent Medicare reimbursement practices, government...
Regulators see need to issue new guide for dining assistants in nursing homes
Mar 17, 2009
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has completed a guide for providers who want to employ dining assistants in their facilities. After a drawn out battle, CMS agreed five years ago to allow the...
U.S. News’ rating system for nursing homes builds on government’s ‘five-star’...
Mar 13, 2009
Alaska has the largest percentage of five-star rated facilities in the United States, while Louisiana has the lowest. That is according to U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Nursing...
Proper use of Medicaid stimulus funds still unclear
Mar 10, 2009
A fierce debate has erupted over how best to use the $87 billion in Medicaid money included in the recently passed economic stimulus bill, according to news analyses.
Study debunks long-term care Medicaid ‘myth,’ researchers say
Mar 10, 2009
More individuals are willing to pay privately for long-term care services than previously thought, authors of a new study assert. The result offers both more hope for nursing home providers and a realization...