Is it permanent? SNF pressures mount even as providers try to recover from COVID-19, financial instability
By
Danielle Brown
Dec 03, 2021
Skilled nursing facilities could be facing a severe, financially unstable future as operators try to adjust to lower patient volumes and a shift toward home care, according to Forbes columnist Howard Gleckman.
Clinical briefs for Friday, Dec. 3
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 03, 2021
First deadline Wednesday for McKnight’s Women of Distinction award nominations … Moderna’s shot comes out on top in first head-to-head vaccine comparison study … Risk of overactive bladder...
Providers told to prepare for Monday’s vaccine deadline despite mandate injunction
By
Danielle Brown
Dec 02, 2021
Meeting Monday’s first-shot deadline for the federal government’s healthcare worker vaccine mandate is in nursing homes’ best interests, despite a temporary injunction that halted the rule nationwide...
CMS guidance on healthcare worker rule stuck amid legal challenges
By
Danielle Brown
Dec 02, 2021
Further guidance on the federal government’s healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccine rule that was expected to be issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services within the next two weeks could be...
These nursing homes face even bigger wage-setting challenge
By
Kimberly Marselas
Dec 02, 2021
For months, provider organizations have been bemoaning the costs of relying on temporary staff that eat up limited, taxpayer-supported Medicare and Medicaid dollars.
Two years into pandemic, we’re better prepared to fight off virus variants
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 02, 2021
Despite the threat of the quickly spreading and highly mutated omicron coronavirus variant — which has just landed in the U.S. — we are safer than we were before the pandemic, some experts say.
Yearly flu vaccination does not affect SNF resident mortality in large Medicare study
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 02, 2021
A study of 26 million Medicare recipients has linked regular flu shots with lowered mortality — except in skilled nursing facility residents. The results suggest that vaccines alone are not enough to...
Clinical briefs for Thursday, Dec. 2
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 02, 2021
Potentially unnecessary prostate cancer screening rate higher in oldest males after USPSTF guidelines reversal … Labor Department extends comment period for OSHA vaccinate-or-test mandate … Short-lived...
FDA advisers endorse Merck’s COVID pill, pending a better option
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 01, 2021
Molnupiravir, an oral antiviral pill for treating COVID-19, is in line for authorization by the FDA. The Tuesday vote recommending that it be prescribed to U.S. adults was a close one.
Feds gauging threat to vaccine, test and treatment efficacy in face of omicron variant
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 01, 2021
The United States is prepared to address any potential threat to the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments posed by the new variant, according to the White House and federal health officials.