BREAKING: CMS ends nurse aide certification waiver, many other COVID-19 allowances
By
Danielle Brown
Apr 07, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is restoring training requirements for nurse aides who work at skilled nursing facilities after waiving them early during the COVID-19 crisis.
Nursing home workers to CMS leader: Press forward on accountability, wages to transform care
By
Danielle Brown
Apr 07, 2022
Nursing home workers pushed for more accountability of owners and better wages to improve the workforce in a meeting Wednesday with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.
CMS to pay for second booster shots for Medicare beneficiaries
By
Amy Novotney
Apr 07, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Wednesday that it will pay for a second COVID-19 booster shot of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for all Medicare beneficiaries.
CMS revises COVID-19 vaccine mandate guidance
By
Danielle Brown
Apr 06, 2022
Workers at skilled nursing and other long-term care facilities that have been suspended or are on extended leave won’t count against the providers as “unvaccinated staff,” according to new updated...
8.5% payment boost to Medicare Advantage plans ‘clear signal of support’ from CMS: expert
By
Danielle Brown
Apr 06, 2022
The 8.5% boost in average revenue slated for Medicare Advantage plans in 2023 is proof of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services support of the program and could mean improved payment for post-acute...
CMS chief holds second 1-on-1 with providers as reform looms
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 04, 2022
Leaders of several nonprofit skilled nursing providers warned Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure about the potential impact of “unfunded mandates” and “counterproductive”...
Kansas losing $350,000 for not enforcing healthcare worker vaccine mandate
By
Danielle Brown
Mar 31, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is cutting Kansas’ Medicaid funding by nearly $350,000 for not enforcing the federal healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccine mandate in nursing homes and hospitals.
Providers ‘very encouraged’ after meeting with CMS leader on nursing home reform
By
Danielle Brown
James M. Berklan
Mar 30, 2022
After initial dismay upon hearing the administration’s strategies for sweeping new nursing home reform plans last month, providers were more optimistic after meeting with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...
CMS: Quality measure threshold changes coming
By
Danielle Brown
Mar 21, 2022
Skilled nursing facilities have an additional tool to measure their own quality improvement efforts under a new change to the quality measures rating domain.
Administration and CMS’s big fix
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Mar 15, 2022
I think a lot of us were a little ticked off with the State of the Union address and the administration’s focus on improving the quality of care provided in America’s nursing homes. We all know we...