CCRCs:  Risks Exists But No Federal Regulation Recommended At This Time Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) may get more oversight and regulation at a federal level in the future based upon the tone of Wednesday’s Senate Committee on Aging chaired by Herb Kohl.  The committee heard testimony at a hearing entitled, "Continuing Care Retirement Communities [...]

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Congressman Chris Murphy testified on how to expand affordable housing options for seniors and Americans living with disabilities at a Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development hearing.  Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Banking Committee, joined Murphy in calling for the modernization of federal housing assistance programs to ensure they can meet [...]

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Last week Senators Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the Special Focus Facility (SFF) Program, which monitors nursing homes that earn the worst quality ratings. The study recommends that the SFF program, administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), be [...]

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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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There is no question that operators are under pressure to reduce their operating costs but is the right choice to downgrade your facility and remove service levels to avoid regulation and costs of operating an assisted living facility?  An assisted living facility in Dubuque, Iowa has filed with the state to do just that by [...]

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Nevada Senator John Ensign and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) recently introduced legislation to expand access to care for Gold Star parents that will allow access to VA Nursing Homes to parents who have lost a child in service to our country. Currently, Gold Star parents may receive care in a VA home only if they [...]

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The governor of Pennsylvania, Governor Rendell, and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency recently announced the approval for funding for 99 projects that will make affordable senior housing more prevalent in the commonwealth comes from the Neighborhood Stabilization and Low Income Housing Tax programs.  Some of the senior housing and living projects approved for funding include: [...]

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As the economy in California struggles and the state government working with limited funds, Governor Schwarzenegger is facing some challenges to make ends meet and one area that is on the chopping block is the state’s senior housing programs.  The governor’s cuts include proposals to shut down the state’s adult day care centers that provide [...]

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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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New York Governor David A. Paterson announced early this week $253 million in affordable housing grants coming to New York through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  The New York project are the first  housing projects in the U.S. to be awarded funding through the ARRA, and will allow for the preservation of existing [...]

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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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AARP recently declared that the provisions in the recently passed Mortgage Relief in the House of Representatives were good for seniors and encouraged the Senate to pass a bill quickly.  Resistance by those in the Senate has increased during the last few weeks against this bill because of the broad implications that it may have [...]

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