CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announces a significantly smaller and more-focused project list for Round Two of the funding awards. Read More »
Every country in the world--from Argentina to Zimbabwe--is confronted with the problem of caring for its elderly and paying for that care. Here's a firsthand look at how senior care is provided at a facility in France. Read More »
CMS publishes proposals for changes to FY 2014 payment rates, quality data collection and reporting requirements, and qualification criteria for long-term care providers in the Federal Register. Read More »
Vitas Hospice Services is charged by DOJ with engaging in business practices that resulted in inappropriate patient admissions and upcoded claims submissions to Medicare. Read More »
Alleged poor quality charges are landing providers in the poorhouse. A look at cases based on poor quality of care and the subsequent verdicts handed down. Read More »
Marilyn Tavenner has obtained a vote of confidence from a Senate committee in her bid to become the first confirmed administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in seven years. Read More »
This summer will be a busy one as Congress deliberates the 2014 budget and how, without revisions, its proposed cuts to Medicare may affect the physicians, hospitals and long-term care providers. Read More »
Next year, in an effort to improve quality of care, skilled nursing facilities may share the penalties already levied to hospitals for 30-day Medicare hospital readmissions. Read More »
President Obama's new budget, released by the White House Wednesday, includes plenty of cuts, but also contains a few surprising increases. Read More »
A new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services document clarifies what tasks physicians may delegate to nurses within nursing homes serving Medicare and Medicaid residents. Read More »
Senior Editor Pamela Tabar talks with Ruta Kadonoff, vice president of quality and regulatory affairs for the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), about quality in long-term care—and why being able to measure it will be important for business. Read More »
The waiting is over. No resolution to the budget crisis means that sequestration begins—today. Long-term care facilities will feel the effects upfront, but a quieter casuality might be healthcare's information technology and data-sharing initiatives. Read More »
Florida’s Universal Health Care Insurance suddenly closed its doors last week, giving beneficiaries three days to choose another insurance provider. Read More »
The federal government last Friday announced a final rule that provides 100 percent payment of the cost of certain newly eligible adult Medicaid beneficiaries. Read More »
Sweeping changes may be on the horizon for the way Medicare billing is divided, as President Obama and Republicans put the idea of combining Medicare Parts A and B back on the discussion table, the New York Times reports today. Read More »
Knowledge about the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers has come a long way, but has it come far enough to prevent and reduce the incidence of this problem in long-term care? Read More »
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) got a tongue-lashing from the Senate Finance Committee, while CMMI’s director explains that testing new models takes time before payment reforms can be put into action. Read More »
Legislation that would roll back caps on therapy services to seniors in skilled nursing centers has been introduced in both the House and Senate and is being applauded by an industry reeling from one payment reduction after another. Read More »
Skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies face payment reductions, but hospices and long-term care hospitals get a first-round bye in MedPAC's latest Medicare payment recommendations to Congress. Read More »
A new survey of Texas nursing homes finds the series of state and federal funding cuts to seniors’ skilled nursing facility care is creating a dangerous strain on facilities’ ability to care for growing numbers of older, more medically complex residents. Read More »
Many health professionals feel that dementia is under-diagnosed in nursing home residents, which may lead to poorly coordinated care or inappropriate care. Read More »
Nursing home consumers—residents and their families—say the survey process has flaws that need to be addressed, according to a new report from the Coalition for Quality Care. Read More »
