Leaders digest: So the ACA stays. What now? Long-Term Living’s editors speak with leaders in the long-term and post-acute care industry the day the Supreme Court decision is announced. Read More »
BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court has decided the Affordable Care Act will stay in place. The majority voted to keep individual mandate and the right for Congress to offer funding for state reform programs. Read More »
Private pay has become the holy grail of long-term care, and a powerful combination of industry leadership and political action is opening up access for the consumer to new funding options. Every owner of a life insurance policy has the legal right to convert their policy to pay for long-term care while still alive—but too few consumers and LTC industry professionals are aware of this fact. Read More »
Some insurers aren't waiting for the Supreme Court's decision to show how they feel about some of the reforms within the Affordable Care Act. Read More »
Solving the problem of hospital readmissions will take much more than follow-up calls at home. Each link in the care chain has quality improvements to make, say health IT experts at the 2012 LTPAC Health IT Summit. Read More »
NASL’s Cynthia Morton shares insights on Congressional legislation and CMS innovation projects with attendees at this week’s eHDS User Group meeting. Read More »
The Senate Appropriations Committee today struck down several amendments aimed at putting a chokehold on funds allotted by the Affordable Care Act, including a prevention fund containing millions for eldercare initiatives. Read More »
Another bitter battle is brewing on Capitol Hill over how to prevent student loan interest rates from increasing from the current 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1, and believe it or not, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities may be asked to help pay the tab. Read More »
Although funding was approved in last year’s Ohio budget, Gov. John Kasich slashed bonuses to high-performing nursing homes by a line-item veto for the state’s midterm budget review. Read More »
The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) tell Congress to stop eyeing Medicaid tax rates as rescue funds for student loans. Read More »
New research data shows that many Medicare recipients are prevented from transferring to skilled care based on their hospital admission status. Read More »
The Obama Administration seems determined to keep patients in their community settings and out of nursing homes for as long as possible. Obviously that will mean fewer admissions to long-term care facilities, so those facilities must be thinking of ways to adapt in order to remain viable. Read More »
CMS announces a new partnership initiative to combat the improper use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes. Through better reporting and data sharing, the partnership vows to cut the use of antipsychotics in nursing homes by 15 percent before the end of this year. Read More »
Diaz urged the committee to consider the impact of additional payment cuts—including the impending 2 percent sequestration cut to Medicare payments beginning in January 2013 and continuing for 10 years—on LTC's ability to continue innovation pilots. Read More »
According to NCAL, both proposed rules would disqualify a community-based provider, such as assisted living or a group home, from participating in Medicaid because they are on or near a property containing an institutional setting. Read More »
In Pennsylvania, a nursing home, unwilling to wait for a woman's Medicaid approval and reimbursement, sues her son to recover the $93K debt. It's called the "filial responsibility law" and it's on the books in 30 states. Read More »
Skilled nursing facilities are gearing up to absorb nearly $800 million in Medicare cuts in 2014, according to a new analysis from Avalere Health and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care. Read More »
New technology to treat aortic stenosis has been approved for conditional coverage by Medicare. Previously, repairing damaged heart valves was only accomplished through invasive surgery. Read More »
The government alleges that the drug wholesaler violated the False Claims Act by reporting inflated pricing information for a large number of prescription drugs, causing Medicaid to overpay for those drugs. Read More »
The final rule, effective June 26, continues to require that all providers and suppliers who qualify for a unique identification number—the National Provider Identifier (NPI)—include their NPI on applications to enroll in Medicare and Medicaid and on all reimbursement claims submitted. Read More »
The Affordable Care Act is projected to save Medicare more than $200 billion through 2016, according to The Medicare Trustees Report. But beyond 2024, Medicare’s solvency is in doubt. Read More »
Delayed hospital discharges mean potentially fewer acute patients and fewer days for the resident in the nursing home. But these are primarily revenue and business issues, so what are the legal issues for the nursing homes? Read More »
In its recommendations, OIG suggested CMS add more specific emergency planning protocol to existing federal requirements for nursing home disaster preparedness. Read More »
As is the case normally in this space, current events coalesced today with an announcement from industry advocates—this time, the American Health Care Association (AHCA)—asking for reprieve. Read More »
