Medicare Archives - Page 8 of 13

Looking Beyond Medicare’s Nursing Home Ratings: What You Really Should Know Before Picking a Facility

This week, The New York Times published an investigative report by Katie Thomas on Medicare’s five-star rating system for nursing homes. Among its findings: Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare tool relies largely on self-reported data by the facilities themselves and is thus unreliable. On one hand, this is a bit odd, since Medicare’s website explicitly describes these very shortcomings. On the [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-08-27T12:14:25-04:00August 27th, 2014|Medicare, nursing homes|8 Comments

A Modest Step To Improve Medicare Post-Acute Care

Medicare has a huge and growing problem caring for patients after they have been discharged from the hospital. After years of talk, Congress may be about to take a modest but important first step toward cleaning up the mess, and making sure that patients get care that gives them the best chance to live a healthy and active life after a [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-07-02T17:01:10-04:00July 2nd, 2014|Care Coordination, Hospitals, Medicare, nursing homes|1 Comment

Social Supports for Seniors (And Others) Begin To Go Mainstream

For decades, seniors and others with chronic illness have had to scale a seemingly insurmountable barrier built by the health care system, aided and abetted by Medicare and Medicaid. On one side of the wall was medical care, mostly controlled by doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and skilled nursing facilities. Medicare paid them to do as many medical procedures as possible, and [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-06-13T11:49:30-04:00June 13th, 2014|Care Coordination, Health reform, long term care reform, Medicare|0 Comments

The Real Value of ObamaCare Has Nothing to do with Enrollment

The loud debate over how many people have gotten health insurance under the Affordable Care Act misses the point. Yes, reducing the number of uninsured was one goal of the ACA. But only one. The law’s most enduring legacy will come from its historical—but largely unnoticed—changes in the way health care is delivered. Unlike the insurance expansion, which largely excludes Medicare, many [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-04-02T14:58:20-04:00April 2nd, 2014|Aging, Health Care, long term care reform, Medicaid, Medicare|3 Comments

We All Want To Live At Home In Old Age, But Know Nothing About the Quality of Care We’ll Get There

The other day, I wrote about a troubling report on the high likelihood of falls or medication errors in skilled nursing facilities. The problem is real and serious, but at least we can measure it-- which is a first step towards fixing it. In contrast, there is home care. More than eight of every 10 people who need long-term supports [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-03-19T12:08:14-04:00March 19th, 2014|Aging, aging in place, family caregivers, long-term care workers, Medicaid, Medicare|0 Comments

Addressing the Dangers of Nursing Facilities

Earlier this month, the federal department of Health & Human Services concluded that more than one of every five skilled nursing facility (SNF) patients suffered serious harm from events such as medication errors, falls, or infections in 2011. Half were sent to the hospital as a result of these events. Six percent died. And 60 percent of these adverse events [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-03-14T14:17:16-04:00March 14th, 2014|Aging, Medicare, nursing homes|4 Comments

Senior Services Take a Hit in Obama Budget

Federal senior services programs are in for another very difficult year. In the 2015 budget he released yesterday, President Obama proposed freezing or even cutting spending for many key programs. And Obama’s blueprint may be the highwater mark for many initiatives, which are likely to see even deeper cuts as the budget works its way through Congress. Key House Republicans have [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-03-05T17:51:41-05:00March 5th, 2014|Aging, Federal senior services programs, Medicaid, Medicare|0 Comments

Better Coordinating Long-Term Care and Medical Treatment

The most important trend in care for the frail elderly and younger people with disabilities may be what’s called managed long-term supports and services, or MLTSS. This effort to combine medical care with long-term care would replace today’s disorganized, ineffective, and even dangerous system with one that can bring together complex care that’s being delivered by many different providers. Done [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-02-27T07:41:27-05:00February 27th, 2014|Aging, Care Coordination, Medicaid, Medicare|2 Comments

When Medicare Will Pay for Skilled Nursing or Physical Therapy

For years, it has been an article of faith that Medicare would not pay for services such as skilled nursing or physical therapy unless that care improved a patient’s health status. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard doctors, nursing homes administrators, and even case workers say Medicare would stop paying once a patient was no longer getting better. [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-01-31T14:00:36-05:00January 31st, 2014|Blog, Medicare|3 Comments

Wyden Bill Would Integrate Medicare Health Care, May Open the Door for Long-Term Care

A new Medicare payment model would encourage health systems to provide fully-integrated medical care for people with chronic disease, according new bipartisan legislation sponsored by senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and congressmen Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Peter Welch (D-VT). The measure would allow, but not require, participating providers to offer long-term services and supports as well as medical [...]

By Howard Gleckman|2014-01-22T18:52:12-05:00January 22nd, 2014|Care Coordination, Medicare|1 Comment