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. [...]
Over just the past few decades, the life expectancy of people with Down Syndrome (DS) has increased from less than 30 years to nearly 60. But for many, that remarkable advancement comes at a high price. As they live longer, up to ninety percent of people with DS will have Alzheimer’s Disease. It is, in fact, the leading cause of death [...]
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) [...]
In a key decision, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said today that Medicare will not pay for the controversial Alzheimer’s drug Adulhelm until it sees positive results from a government-approved trial. In bureaucratic language: “Monoclonal antibodies directed against amyloid for the treatment of [Alzheimer’s Disease] provided outside of the CMS approved randomized controlled trials and trials supported [...]
Last month, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a controversial new drug to treat people with Alzheimer’s disease. But even though the FDA allowed the drug to be sold, Medicare is not required to pay for it. And yesterday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began a process to determine whether Medicare will establish a national coverage [...]
The Biden Administration has given the green light for states to begin to tap into about $12 billion in additional funding for Medicaid home-based long-term supports and services. In guidance issued to state Medicaid directors late last week, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) granted the states broad flexibility in how they use the money. The funds, [...]
The federal agency that regulates nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will require facilities to publicly report covid-19 vaccination rates for staff and residents starting May 21. The rule is likely to press operators to boost staff vaccine rates to at least the 75 percent rate that industry trade groups have set as a goal Some [...]
A national Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes has identified more than two dozen major flaws in the response of government and the nursing home industry to the covid-19 pandemic. However, the panel, created by the Trump Administration, was relatively passive in its recommendations for how to fix those shortcomings. It feels a bit like reading the [...]
“When will I be allowed to visit my mother again?” That’s been the question on the minds of the families of millions of residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other senior communities who effectively have been locked down since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold two months ago. Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) put out [...]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) appears to be preparing to allow nursing homes to open their doors to families and other visitors, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. If not done carefully, this would be folly, and could put residents, staff, and families at risk. The new rules, which still are under consideration, would reverse March 16 CMS guidance [...]