Four components should be part of every senior care provider's emergency preparedness plan, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Found out what the agency is proposing and how you can comment. Read More »
Certain factors relate to resident quality of life, but the government rating of the facility where they live is not one of them, according to new research. Read More »
The United States spends more money for care provided at skilled nursing facilities and continuing care retirement communities than for care provided through home healthcare agencies, according to a new report, but spending for home healthcare is growing at a faster rate. Read More »
Does your skilled nursing facility care for residents with mental heath conditions? Medicare recovery audit contractors for mental illness issues may threaten access to care. Read More »
After a mixed year of progress and stumblings, accountable care organizations are expected to surge as a care model in 2014, according to a year-over-year trends report. Read More »
Congress may be ready to do away with the sustainable growth rate (SGR), re-fix the “doc fix” and ditch therapy caps, but will skilled nursing become the scapegoat for the costs? Read More »
The National Council on Aging is “disappointed” that Congress has not acted to make permanent a program that pays Part B premiums for some Medicare recipients, but the organization remains hopeful that the program will be made permanent in 2014. Read More »
The recommendations made by the federal Commission on Long-Term Care related to long-term services and supports for seniors and disabled individuals are the focus of a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing. Read More »
The Department of Health and Human Services and its oversight body, the Office of Inspector General, released reports this week identifying strategic goals for the next few years. Read More »
The Office of Inspector General wants hospitalization rates to be added to CMS's nursing home quality rankings. But will the numbers tell the real story or just muddy the waters? Read More »
In a challenge being faced in other parts of the country, too, California soon will have to make difficult fiscal trade-offs in an attempt to balance the long-term care needs of its residents with demands related to other programs, a new report finds. Read More »
Under a proposed bill, SNFs meeting certain criteria based on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services quality ratings automatically would qualify to waive the prior hospitalization requirement for Medicare coverage of Part A skilled nursing care benefits. Read More »
CMS has revised its fire sprinkler compliance measure to ease the burden on facilities that are in the middle of sprinkler installations. But is the workaround just as challenging as the fire sprinkler citation? Read More »
A plan by Congress may finally fix sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula issues for physicians, but long-term care and outpatient therapy services could suffer in the process. Read More »
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services emphasize the importance of following the “Rule of 3” sequence when coding activities of daily living, as noted in the recently updated RAI User's Manual. Read More »
Payers, providers and care networks are making vast efforts to combine care delivery, coverage and costs—merging control over the once-siloed segments of healthcare business. Will the post-acute care sector be the golden ticket to success or the cost-laden component that drags the system down? Read More »
Study investigates the geographical differences and patterns in drug prescribing and drug therapies for Medicare patients and the potential risks involved. Read More »
Although seasonal vaccinations are good preventive steps to protect seniors from various health challenges, the inoculations may have some side effects. Kathleen Mears shares her experience with the shingles vaccination. Read More »
If your facility employs 50 or fewer full-time workers, you may be interested in the results of a new study of the new Small Business Health Options Program through which companies like yours can purchase health insurance. Read More »
