There needs to be improved oversight of a new system that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is creating to monitor quality standards in nursing homes, according to a Government Accountability Office report on nursing home quality control. The report, “Nursing Home Quality: CMS Should Improve Efforts to Monitor Implementation of the Quality […]
CMS
There was widespread uproar in the skilled nursing industry last summer when the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) announced an upcoming cut to Medicare reimbursement rates. The cuts have been in effect for a full quarter now, and it looks the industry is still hanging on—for now. REITs: Less Impacted Than Expected HCP, […]
Technology, both for senior care and in general, is increasingly being recognized for its ability to make healthcare more accessible and efficient. This is evidenced by a study suggesting the viability of mobile health technology, and the fact that the Department of Health and Human Services just hired its first Chief Technology Officer, who will […]
It’s possible that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will soon be implementing a common pay system for post-acute care providers, including skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, long-term care hospitals and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. Because similar patients can be treated in more than one provider setting, having a common evaluation and payment […]
Even after steep cuts to skilled nursing facility reimbursements that went into effect last October, President Obama’s 2013 Federal Budget calls for still more Medicare payment and reimbursement reductions, causing associations representing the skilled nursing and home healthcare industries to blast back against the Administration’s strategy of “cuts only” without reforms. The budget report proposes […]
Each year, U.S. News and World Report releases its list of “Best Nursing Homes,” determined by quarterly ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and it also issues an Honor Roll which consists this year of 39 nursing homes that earned the highest possible ratings in all four quarters of 2011. Notably, […]
Between 2010 and 2012, skilled nursing facilities in 40 states across the nation dealt with Medicaid payment rates that were either cut or frozen, highlighting the importance of stabilizing federal nursing home rates, according to a recent Avalere survey. “These findings speak to the financial pressures nursing facilities face on the Medicaid front,” said Emil Parker, […]
Group therapy was virtually extinct in the first quarter of 2012 as skilled nursing providers “significantly” changed the mode of patient therapy from group to individual after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revised the RUG reimbursement system, according to a CMS report. Most Medicare patients are in skilled nursing for short-term stays, […]
Home health care is being made available for up to 10,000 Medicare patients through a health care reform law demonstration that seeks to improve care and lower costs for seniors and people with disabilities, announced the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). “This program gives new life to the old practice of house calls, […]
The first federal government website devoted to the policies and people of Medicaid launched this week at Medicaid.gov. Launched and managed by the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), the site also serves as a resource for those who work with the Center’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CMCS has worked to revitalize and […]
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