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 and a 2.1% increase to account for inflation. The agency is accepting comments on the proposed regulation through June 30 and is sure to hear from publicly traded nursing home operators such as Kindred Healthcare, Skilled Healthcare Group and Sun Healthcare. Many of these companies are going to argue that these cuts would go against the momentum of Obama’s stimulus bill and will cost the industry jobs.
For more information on the proposed regulation changes, click here.
