With margins averaging 18.5 percent in 2010, MedPAC contends SNFs are making a killing on Medicare. Under the proposed rebasing plan, there would be a zero update in 2013, followed by an initial reduction of four percent in 2014. Read More »
The drug maker was accused of providing state officials kickbacks in exchange for including its Risperdal antipsychotic drug on an approved list for Medicaid recipients. Read More »
The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care decried MedPAC’s recommendations, calling them a “failure to recognize the obvious link between Medicare and Medicaid in financing SNF care.” Read More »
The CBO estimates that if the Medicare eligibility age was raised to 67, annual federal spending on Medicare would be reduced by $148 billion from 2012 through 2021. Read More »
Already faced with the prospect of absorbing $127 billion in Medicare funding reductions through 2021, the long-term care industry may find itself confronted with even more strife in the year ahead. Read More »
The Detroit Free Press ran a provocative overview on the state of Michigan nursing home quality. And the Star Tribune reported on Minnesota granting waivers to former criminals seeking employment in nursing homes. Read More »
Provider groups have been saying this for years: Skilled nursing facilities cannot survive another round of cuts. (Actually, it’s usually stated more Read More »
It came as no great surprise last week when Donald Berwick, MD, announced his resignation as administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Read More »
It’s going to be a long weekend for certain members of Congress. The bi-partisan 12-member “super committee,” tasked with finding $1.2 trillion in Read More »
The warnings have been well reported up to this point. Unfortunately, providers have little say in the matters of Medicaid and the transformations Read More »
Donald Berwick wants you to forget about the current strife in Washington and get back to the basics: “better health, better care, lower costs”—the Read More »
October 1st is looming. That dreaded date, what with its Medicare cuts, is causing facilities to scramble and evaluate budget savings and other Read More »
Medicaid is in transition—many would say crisis—and skilled nursing providers attending a panel discussion Monday at the 62nd Annual AHCA/NCAL Read More »
Rat Pack tribute? Check. Cheesy Elvis impersonator? Check. Scantily clad showgirls? But of course. It’s conference week in Las Vegas for the Read More »
The final SNF PPS rule for FY2012 published in August will cause all operational professionals to stop and think about their implementation plans for Read More »
Wow, we are closing in on one year of using the MDS 3.0 and are finally getting the “hang of it” with all the changes that occurred with its Read More »
Janet Gerber, RN-BC Mathematically, I have always “assumed” that if you were dividing a whole into “quarters” that would mean you would have four Read More »
Bob Gatty The long-term care industry is now facing an 11.1 percent Medicare payment reduction to SNFs for 2012 in new rates to be implemented Read More »
October 1, 2011, is the day that an 11.1 percent reduction in Medicare payments to SNFs is implemented. It’s when we really begin feeling the pain. Read More »
Everyone needs a good sounding board. For many nurses, that forum is oftentimes a listserv. In commemoration of last year's big MDS package, Read More »
Facility staff empathizes with the pain and discomfort of the resident with incontinence, but they frequently do not have the opportunity to discuss Read More »
This time last year skilled nursing facilities across the nation were in the throes of gearing up for the implementation of MDS 3.0 in October. Read More »
At the end of July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the “Medicare Program; Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Read More »
