MedPAC renews call for long-term care payment cuts, draws fire from providers
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 13, 2013
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has recommended a 4% reduction in skilled nursing facility payments in 2016, prompting an outcry from providers.
MedPAC chairman: Three-day stay requirement is ‘archaic’
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 16, 2014
The government should pay for skilled nursing care without a preliminary three-day hospital stay, and the recovery auditor program should be reformed, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission members said...
Standardized tool for assessing post-acute care is floated in House and Senate
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 20, 2014
Lawmakers in both houses of Congress have unveiled a draft bill calling for post-acute care providers to furnish standard assessment data, with the goals of enabling better quality oversight and driving...
Hospitals object to collecting their own data as part of post-acute reform, urge revisions to draft legislation
By
Tim Mullaney
May 15, 2014
Hospitals should not be required to collect patient assessment data as part of an effort to revamp post-acute care, the leader of the American Hospital Association argued in a recent letter to top Congressional...
CMS announces declining readmission rate for Medicare patients, credits Affordable Care Act
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 09, 2013
Improved transitions between acute and post-acute settings are partly responsible for continuing nationwide declines in hospital readmission rates, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
ACA put the brakes on spending across the care continuum, White House economists say
By
Tim Mullaney
Nov 21, 2013
Spending on healthcare, including skilled nursing care, has grown at a historically slow rate in the last three years, according to a new analysis from the Council of Economic Advisers. The group, which...
Dual eligibles more likely to go from hospitals to lower quality nursing homes, referral process might...
By
Tim Mullaney
May 27, 2014
People eligible both for Medicare and Medicaid go to lower-quality nursing homes after being hospitalized at a rate higher than Medicare-only patients, according to researchers from Brown and Harvard universities.
RACs recovered $8,000 from skilled nursing facilities, $2.3 billion overall in 2012, report shows
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 27, 2014
Medicare recovery audit contractors collected about $8,000 in fiscal year 2012 through a skilled nursing facility claims review pilot, according to a recently released annual report to Congress.
Jimmo guidance: Document whether therapy is for restoration or maintenance before providing care
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 20, 2013
In seeking Medicare reimbursement, skilled nursing facilities should not claim that therapy was to maintain a patient’s condition if documentation reflected only an improvement goal, according to...