CMS warns states: Survey fully or suffer consequences
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 10, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Wednesday sternly warned state survey agencies they must enforce all aspects of the federal program’s health and safety requirements by long-standing agreement.
BREAKING: CMS sets new vaccination targets for another 24 states
By
James M. Berklan
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 14, 2022
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Friday that providers in 24 states added to the federal vaccine mandate roster Thursday have until March 15 to become fully vaccinated.
With Phase 3 guidance nearing, skilled nursing providers advised ‘don’t wait’ on infection preventionist,...
By
Kimberly Marselas
Oct 22, 2021
Final, long-awaited guidance related to nursing home Requirements of Participation may soon be here. The rules were fundamentally rewritten and implemented in three phases starting in 2016 but still have...
COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadlines push providers
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jan 17, 2022
With every state but Texas now covered by rules mandating when workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19, providers are facing increased urgency around ongoing vaccination campaigns.
Providers tell CMS it’s ‘decidedly’ the wrong time to toy with PDPM rates
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 03, 2021
Providers need more time before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would implement any adjustments to PDPM payment rates, operators and associations have told the agency in official comments.
States push CMS to repeal COVID-19 vaccine mandate
By
Kimberly Marselas
Lois A. Bowers
Nov 18, 2022
A coalition of 22 states is taking a new angle in its attempts to overturn a national mandate requiring that healthcare workers be vaccinated against COVID-19: They’re simply asking federal regulators...
States need to step up with nurse aide waiver clearer, providers say
By
Kimberly Marselas
Aug 31, 2022
The formal extension of a waiver program that relaxes certification requirements for some nurse aides was widely embraced by providers a day after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced...
As staffing minimum looms, other workforce solutions simmer on back burner
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 02, 2023
A long-awaited federal rule that could rewrite how nursing home owners and operators staff their buildings is in the final stage of review before being released publicly.
Standard surveys continue to lag, with infection control a major tripwire
By
Kimberly Marselas
Oct 24, 2023
A year and a half after a federal watchdog blasted the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services over extensive delays in nursing home inspections, year-end data for fiscal year 2023 shows there has been...
Supreme Court leaves providers to grapple with vaccine mandate, takes other employers off the hook
By
Kimberly Marselas
James M. Berklan
Jan 13, 2022
Nursing home operators were already bracing late Thursday for the fallout of a nationwide staff vaccine mandate, just hours after the Supreme Court ruled a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule...