Closure of historic nursing home reflects sector’s increasing infrastructure problems
By
Kimberly Marselas
May 20, 2024
An unsuccessful, years-long bid to find a partner willing to finance needed capital improvements or help redevelop a historic nonprofit nursing home in South Boston will lead to its closure this summer.
Nursing homes could get doubled incentive pay due to new performance metrics
By
Josh Henreckson
May 02, 2024
Nursing homes in New Jersey will have new opportunities for increased care quality incentive payments if a measure in the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2025 is approved. The proposal would nearly...
Nursing homes weigh pros, cons of new weight loss drugs as limited Medicare coverage kicks in
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 22, 2024
A recent decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to cover popular new weight loss drugs that provide additional health benefits could be a “game changer” for potentially thousands...
Medicare audits ‘ramping up’ with isolation coding in the crosshairs
By
Josh Henreckson
Apr 22, 2024
Auditors are paying special attention to isolation and quarantine coding amid already heightened Medicare nursing home audits that are expected to increase in coming months, experts warn.
Ask the payment expert … about payment reductions
By
Eleisha Wilkes, RN, RAC-CTA, RAC-CT, DNS-CT
Oct 10, 2023
Q: How do I know what determines my 2% annual payment reduction? I’ve received a non-compliance letter citing MDS reporting requirements, but it doesn’t provide details.
Skilled nursing care’s cloudy Medicare future
By
Brendan Williams
Aug 18, 2023
A net gain of $1.4 billion for a sector comprised of over 15,000 nursing homes somewhat pales in comparison to a looming CMS staffing mandate estimated to cost nursing homes $11.3 billion a year.
MedPAC finds single post-acute payment system feasible but says smaller-scale fix might be better
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 16, 2023
An attempt to unify payments for providers across all types of post-acute care is “analytically within reach,” but extensive policy changes that would likely be needed,
‘Critical access’ not at critical mass, but skilled nursing providers push on
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 02, 2023
Support for the concept of critical access nursing homes is growing among providers, but it has yet to gain much traction among industry leaders or the politicians who would need to create such a safety...
Ask the payment expert … about pending removal of Section G
By
Eleisha Wilkes, RN, RAC-CTA, RAC-CT, DNS-CT
Dec 05, 2022
What is the impact of Section G being removed from the MDS?
Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
By
Steven Littlehale
Oct 14, 2022
It’s a curious day when I lift a lyric from the Spice Girls to title an article. The Spice Girls’ first single, “Wannabe,” was released in 1996 and rocketed to the top of the British singles chart....