Can a one-star skilled nursing facility be the same as a five-star facility? It depends on your zip code. When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services assigns the health inspection...
‘Sufficient’ will no longer be sufficient as CMS rewrites nursing home staffing rules
Apr 12, 2022
Moderator Kimberly Marselas leads this insightful conversation on practical considerations, providers’ wish-list items and legal concerns that come with such major reform.
LTC must pursue collaboration to reduce readmissions
By
Imran Javaid
Mar 24, 2014
Acute and post-acute providers are increasingly uniting around a shared goal – to lower hospital readmission rates for elderly and other vulnerable patients. Many caregivers and payers agree that...
Five-Star makes complaints against nursing homes even more serious
By
Tyler J. Smith
Jul 06, 2009
Nursing homes have a difficult enough time contending with the survey and certification system. Now that the Five-Star Quality Rating System has begun, they have to work even harder to protect themselves...
The truth can set you free — or put your long-term care facility out of business
By
John O'Connor
Jan 11, 2013
Journalists generally get all warm and tingly when previously guarded information becomes available. It must be in our DNA. So I should probably be cheering ProPublica’s announcement that the government...
This pilot long-term care program might require actual pilots
By
John O'Connor
Jan 25, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services often backs pilot programs that might help improve long-term care services. In recent years, the agency has funded efforts to do things such as update employee...
Berwick’s remarks offer insight into his healthcare worldview
By
Liza Berger
Nov 19, 2010
Dr. Donald Berwick of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may not have said enough to satisfy some members of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, but he arguably presented some pretty defined...
A vacancy that needed filling
By
Liza Berger
Jul 07, 2010
President Obama has made another recess appointment—this one with big implications for long-term care.
Making the numbers work
By
John O'Connor
Jan 13, 2012
I prefer not to think of myself as an angry person who gets annoyed by every little thing. I’m much more comfortable seeing myself as an angry person who gets annoyed by little things with the power...
With new rules, more payment denials expected
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Oct 02, 2012
Here it comes again! The Oct 1, 2012, federal regulatory changes will not only impact reimbursement but new reporting requirements also will multiply denials for skilled nursing providers across the country.