With Congress back in session this week, federal lawmakers are getting back to work on health care reform and examining how to finance the changes.  In a recent survey by the Mellman Group, the study finds that Americans, by significant margins, strongly oppose cutting Medicare-funded nursing home care over other funding options. Underscoring the unpopularity [...]

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Home-care agencies are one of the fastest growing segments in an otherwise miserable economic environment and some Senators are voicing concerns of whether home-care workers should be entitled to overtime and minimum-wage protection.  In a letter to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis, a group of 15 senators led by Senator Tom Harkin [...]

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Abingdon Health Care Center announced that it plans to file an application for a Certificate of Public Need with the Virginia Department of Health to build a 180-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation center. The center will be developed and operated by CareVirginia and Affiliates which is a part of the CareOne family of Senior [...]

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As the world of finance continues to sputter, another area that is experiencing the “hurry up and wait” feeling is funding for not-for-profit projects.  A reader sent a story/link to the Center For Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies that examines stalled projects from non-profits that contribute infrastructure services to [...]

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Sun Healthcare Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNH) last week announced that its total net revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, was $468.3 million, up 4.0 percent compared to $450.4 million for the comparable period one year ago. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, was $10.2 million, compared to net income [...]

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services surprised nursing home operators late last week when it proposed changes to their programs that would reduce Medicare payments by $1 billion in fiscal 2010.  The cut takes into account a 3.3% reduction in payments based on changes to CMS payments to skilled nursing facilities for some patients [...]

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The Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) last week announced its support for legislation that will provide relief to one million poor seniors in assisted living communities who purchase prescription drugs under Medicare.  The bill calls for ending discrimination against dual-eligible seniors who receive both Medicare and Medicaid but live in home and community based [...]

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The AARP Public Policy Institute released a new state-by-state report last week entitled, Across the States 2009, Profiles of Long-Term Care and Independent Living, that shows nursing home residents, beds, and occupancy rates have remained nearly constant in the last five years, even though the older population has increased.  The population age 85 or older—the [...]

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U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) this week re-introduced the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act, which protects the dispute resolution options for residents of nursing homes. The measure, originally introduced in the 110th Congress, is in response to the increasing practice of nursing home facilities requiring patients to agree to arbitration as the sole vehicle [...]

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As the CMS Five Star Rating System continues to get more attention, state legislators from California are getting behind a proposal by Los Angeles County to require nursing homes to display the ratings they receive prominently.  Earlier this month, California State Representative Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly member Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita) introduced Assembly [...]

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Assisted Living Concepts, Inc. ( ALC ) (NYSE:ALC) reported net income of $3.0 million in the 2008 fourth quarter compared to net income of $4.1 million in the 2007 fourth quarter and cited the decrease attributable to an increase in residence lease expense primarily from the CaraVita acquisition.  The company’s net income decreased from [...]

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For those people who thought sub-prime mortgages and fancy CDO/CMOs were creative accounting, you haven’t seen the latest iteration of creating accounting:  increased state taxation in order to receive more funding from Medicaid.  Florida Health News’s article, Please Tax Me So I Can Earn More, is a fascinating view into the crazy funding crisis Florida [...]

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