nursing homes

As The Covid Health Emergency Ends, Medicare Will Stop Paying for Many Skilled Nursing Stays

As the Covid-19 public health emergency ends, many older adults who need a post-hospital stay in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) will be in for an unpleasant surprise: Traditional Medicare may not pay. The change, one among dozens that affect older adults, restores rules from before the pandemic. But they are complicated and will shock many patients and their families, [...]

By |2023-05-11T10:22:26-04:00May 11th, 2023|nursing homes|0 Comments

The Government Offers Nursing Homes A Carrot, The Stick Is Coming

Nursing homes have been pressing for more money from the state and federal governments, by far their biggest payers. Now they are close to getting it, but the extra payments may come with costly new obligations, especially related to staffing. The federal government is about to increase Medicare payments for skilled nursing care and, at the same time, states are [...]

By |2023-04-12T16:39:56-04:00April 12th, 2023|nursing homes|0 Comments

A Way For Nursing Homes To Balance Resident Independence And Safety

The Covid-19 pandemic shined a light on how hard it is for long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities to balance residents’ health risks with their desire for independence and autonomy. A few have found the secret sauce. Most have not. A new study by the RAND Corporation, a California research firm, shows how facilities can [...]

By |2022-12-01T11:13:12-05:00December 1st, 2022|nursing homes|0 Comments

How Covid-19 Affected Those Nursing Homes Residents Who Didn’t Die

We know how the Covid-19 pandemic killed older adults. We are still learning about its other effects on seniors. And the picture is both complex and often difficult to look at. A new study by Michael Barnett of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and colleagues (paywall) finds that residents of nursing homes with active cases of [...]

By |2022-09-15T10:00:54-04:00September 15th, 2022|nursing homes|0 Comments

Are Critics of Private Equity Nursing Home Ownership Living In The Past?

It has become popular among many Democrats to call for investigations of nursing home ownership by private equity firms. But industry experts tell me that, increasingly, big investors in senior services are abandoning nursing facilities in favor of the far more lucrative home health business and, in some cases, private-pay senior housing. And the shift isn’t just happening with private [...]

By |2022-04-27T15:01:16-04:00April 27th, 2022|nursing homes, Uncategorized|1 Comment

A Blue-Ribbon Panel Calls Nursing Home Care “Ineffective, Inefficient, Fragmented, And Unsustainable”

A blue-ribbon panel of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine has issued a scathing report on the state of nursing homes in the US. Operators, owners, regulators, and payors all are failing patients and residents, the report said. “The way in which the United States finances, delivers, and regulates care in nursing home settings is ineffective, inefficient, fragmented, [...]

By |2022-04-06T17:10:28-04:00April 6th, 2022|nursing homes|0 Comments

Biden Proposes Major Nursing Home Reforms

The Biden Administration has proposed a wide range of changes in the regulation of nursing homes. They include efforts to require minimum staffing levels; limit shared rooms; enhance inspections, penalties, and transparency; and crack down on owners with a history of poor quality. The plan also would expand a technical assistance program to help operators improve their quality of care. [...]

By |2022-02-28T17:40:07-05:00February 28th, 2022|nursing homes|0 Comments

Consumers Are Getting New Information About Nursing Home Staffing But Need More

With nursing homes and other long-term care facilities desperately short of nurses and aides, it is more important than ever for consumers to know about staffing levels, quality, and turnover. But it has been difficult to get some key information. Now, the government has taken a modest step to help. In January, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) [...]

By |2022-02-03T13:54:49-05:00February 3rd, 2022|nursing homes, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Market And Political Pressures Grow On Skilled Nursing Facilities

The covid-19 pandemic drove a collapse in both patient volume and revenue for post-acute care in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). And while patient numbers have increased modestly since the worst of the pandemic, they remain far below 2019 and probably are financially unsustainable for the SNFs. At the same time, bipartisan federal legislation in the House and Senate would create [...]

By |2021-12-02T11:14:37-05:00December 2nd, 2021|nursing homes, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Covid-19 May Have Increased Nursing Home Deaths By Nearly One-Third

How bad was the covid-19 pandemic for nursing homes residents? A new government study finds that 40 percent had the virus, or probably did. About 169,000 more Medicare residents died in the pandemic year of 2020 than in 2019, an increase in the overall death rate of about 32 percent.  And in April 2020, about 1,000 more Medicare residents were [...]

By |2021-06-22T17:09:31-04:00June 22nd, 2021|nursing homes|0 Comments