There’s nothing quite like a new calendar to get media types acting like story forecasters. What might be more helpful is a brief list of things that won’t be taking place.
SNFs can ask for a 3-month reprieve in quality reporting
By
John O'Connor
Sep 04, 2015
Skilled nursing facilities unable to provide data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ new quality reporting program will have a 90-day window to request an exception or extension, officials...
Lawmakers demand answers about rating system quirks
By
John O'Connor
Oct 01, 2014
After The New York Times noted that providers are apparently gaming the Five Star rating system by enhancing staffing and quality data, federal lawmakers quickly put an indignant pen to paper.
Ask the legal expert … about leave-of-absence mistakes
By
John O'Connor
Oct 01, 2013
How can we avoid some of the most common leave-of-absence mistakes administrators/owners make?
Medicare, Medicaid likely to start requiring tech tool use
By
John O'Connor
Sep 01, 2013
As sharing of electronic health information becomes standard across all care settings, using technology may become a prerequisite for providers to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, according...
CMS to revise audit practices
By
John O'Connor
Jun 01, 2013
Here’s the good news for providers dealing with Recovery Audit Program contractors: The federal government will make fewer additional document requests, starting this month. Now the not-so-good news:...
The real labor problem
By
John O'Connor
May 01, 2013
Long-term care operators are understandably giddy about the sudden prospect of immigration reform. Such a change holds the promise of a larger labor pool at a time of rampant worker shortages. Add in the...
Sequestration and Ryan plan seen as big fiscal challenges
By
John O'Connor
Apr 01, 2013
Last month, the skilled sector figured out sequester cuts would cost providers more than $782 million in payments. Then Paul Ryan broke out the meat cleaver.
Getting lost in the fog
By
John O'Connor
Apr 01, 2013
I was hoping to get clear answers about the sector’s future at the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry’s regional meeting last month in San Diego. I did, but...
AHCA’s Parkinson ‘cautiously optimistic,’ despite sequester and other looming fiscal...
By
John O'Connor
Mar 07, 2013
A newly enacted sequester may be trimming Medicare payments to skilled nursing operators, but the sector remains strong and poised for future growth. That assessment was delivered Wednesday by the head...