CMS doubles down: Surveyors do not have to be COVID vaccinated
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 07, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has held audiences with skilled nursing providers, made presentations and entertained comments in recent months to assure operators that regulatory actions...
CMS: Phase 3 final guidance imminent, ‘a lot coming’
By
James M. Berklan
Jun 29, 2022
NEW ORLEANS — Nursing home operators can expect long-awaited final guidance on Phase 3 Requirements of Participation “very, very soon,” the federal government’s top skilled nursing official said...
BREAKING: CMS vaccine mandate upheld
By
Kimberly Marselas
James M. Berklan
Jan 13, 2022
A vaccine requirement for staff at all U.S. nursing homes and other federally funded healthcare facilities can proceed, the Supreme Court said in a 5-4 decision Thursday afternoon.
BREAKING: Supreme Court speeds vax mandates to Jan. 7 hearing
By
James M. Berklan
Dec 22, 2021
The U.S. Supreme Court took the unusual step of announcing Wednesday night that it would hear arguments over the administration’s COVID-19 worker vaccine mandate on Jan. 7, three days before it was originally...
Uncertainty over realistic nursing home census indicative of ‘ongoing economic crisis’
By
James M. Berklan
Dec 16, 2021
The nursing home sector may be far ahead of where it was at this time last year as far as operational freedoms and safety go, but the continuing instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is perhaps no...
CMS: No test-out option for health worker vax mandate
By
James M. Berklan
Nov 05, 2021
Healthcare workers may seek a medical or religious exemption under the new emergency federal COVID-19 vaccination mandate, but a test opt-out does not exist, a top Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services...
Price-gouging, poaching and thin patience: LTC providers seek fixes for anti-competitive staffing agencies
By
Kimberly Marselas
James M. Berklan
Oct 15, 2021
As the bidding war over frontline workers escalates, provider organizations across the country are seeking government intervention to force temporary staffing agencies to play by similar rules as nursing...
Staff vax mandates gain acceptance, while census forecasts stump leaders: McKnight’s survey
By
James M. Berklan
Sep 10, 2021
The dramatic spread of the COVID-19 delta variant has helped splinter the opinions of long-term care administrative and nursing leaders about when census might return to pre-pandemic levels.
BREAKING: LeadingAge joins call for COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all healthcare workers
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 26, 2021
LeadingAge joined a list of at least 56 other professional healthcare groups that came out Monday morning in favor of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all healthcare workers.
BREAKING: CDC lifts restrictions on dining, other activities for fully vaccinated nursing home residents
By
James M. Berklan
Danielle Brown
Apr 27, 2021
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday released new guidance that allows fully vaccinated nursing home residents to resume dining activities and in-room visits without masking or social...