Stop the ‘siloed’ policy making for skilled nursing
By
Alan G. Rosenbloom
Mar 21, 2012
Last week, three reports issued by three separate government agencies made incongruent recommendations — or no recommendations at all — related to skilled nursing facility (SNF) patient care and policy....
Reducing hospitable readmissions — a SNF opportunity
By
McKnight's Staff
Mar 01, 2012
The next McKnight’s professional webcast will focus on one of the hottest issues raging in long-term care, and healthcare in general: reducing hospital readmissions. Andrew Kramer, MD, a professor...
SGR fix?! Don’t get me started!
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Jan 09, 2012
So here’s a Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) 101 primer so you will understand why I am so upset.
Yes, it was a good year
By
John O'Connor
Dec 22, 2011
If you’re like most operators, you’re probably staggering toward the end-of-year holidays. And your unsteady gait may have nothing to do with spiked eggnog.
How to make your nursing facility RAC-ready
By
Bryan Baird
Nov 08, 2011
As skilled nursing facilities adjust to the changes to Medicare that arrived early last month, they must be ready for Recovery Audit Contractors. RACs are independent auditors for the government that are...
Getting proactive on hospital readmissions
By
Ben Adkins
Oct 21, 2011
Long-term care providers have plenty at stake when it comes to the issue of hospital readmissions, and working to reduce them. As debt ceiling talks and federal budget woes raise the specter of additional...
Medicare SNF Final Rule: An analytics- based perspective
While the changes to the new SNF PPS rule have been summarized as a simple number reflecting an overall revenue decrease of 11.1%, there are many details in the rulemaking that result in a disproportionate...
Unsettled business
By
James M. Berklan
Sep 20, 2011
The opening of the American Health Care Association’s annual meeting took on a familiar air Monday afternoon in Las Vegas: A lot of proud retrospectives of a year gone by, prerequisite hand-wringing...
The American Jobs Act and the ‘Real’ answer
Sep 12, 2011
Last Thursday, the president spoke on the American Jobs Act. I was very surprised he didn’t mention that geriatric care is THE way to stimulate the economy and create jobs.
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...