Nursing Homes Would See Medicare Payment Cut In Proposal

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 […]

Introduced Legislation Gets Praise For Co-Pay Equity for Home and Community Based Seniors

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 […]

AARP Study Shows Home and Community Based Services More Cost Effective Than Nursing Homes

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 […]

Lawmakers Re-introduce Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act

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 […]

Will Individual States Follow California To Require Five Star Ratings To Be Posted?

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 […]

Florida’s Fiscal Insanity With Nursing Home Funding

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 […]

Medicaid Tops Funding for Nursing Homes and Residential Care Facilities

According to the 2007 Service Annual Survey: Health Care and Social Assistance provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, Medicaid continued to be the largest source of funding for nursing and residential care facilities in 2007 at $59 billion. The report focuses on health care and social assistance providers for individuals, and gives estimates and sources […]