On Tuesday night, Dec. 13, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that included reducing Medicare bad debt payments, a proposal decried by the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care as it will “unfairly impact” skilled nursing facilities, and further contribute to sector instability. The provision, Section 2224 of […]
Category: Legislation
It might be closing time for hundreds of assisted living facilities in Florida as state legislators prepare to increase regulatory oversight in response to statewide industry scandals exposed by the Miami Herald earlier this year, and a Grand Jury report criticized the state for for not doing enough to enforce existing regulations. In September, the […]
Democrats have introduced legislation to protect Medicare from sequestration following the “Supercommittee’s” failure to agree on a deficit reduction plan, which triggered automatic cuts of 2% to nearly all government programs. H.R. 3519, introduced on Nov. 29, was sponsored by Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) and seeks to exempt the Medicare program from fallback sequestration under […]
This week, the House and Senate passed the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Reform Act (S. 118) that makes improvements in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program. The legislation, with broad support of aging advocacy groups throughout the country, will help expand the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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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