Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
Political and health policy information specific to Wisconsin
‘Tis the season for CMS to release updated payment and program rules for providers under Medicare. In the past week or so, we’ve seen releases for Hospice and Inpatient Rehab Facilities. A couple of days ago, CMS released the proposed 2024 rules/updates for SNFs (skilled nursing). The fact sheet for the release is available here: … Read more
There is a common business axiom, one I have used/repeated many times over: “You can’t save yourself to a profit(able business)”. In health care and in senior living/senior housing, challenges abound and almost daily, new ones arrive. Staffing is incredibly challenging, supply costs are rising, inflationary pressures have increased utility costs, investment portfolios are beat-up … Read more
About a month ago (mid-March), CMS introduced a pilot program called the Medicare Care Choices Model. Basically, this pilot program will allow Medicare beneficiaries to access, via certain participating hospice organizations, dual benefits; hospice and curative treatments, concurrently. Under the current Medicare Hospice Benefit, a patient with a terminal illness or condition, certified likely to … Read more
The 2009-2011 Wisconsin budget (Act 28) incorporates a specific change to how the state defines property tax exemption for non-profit senior housing projects. Up to this point, the existing statutory law was vague and providers were left to contend with a precedent set by an even more vague Supreme Court decision (Columbus Park) and patchwork … Read more
Wisconsin’s new budget creates significant new healthcare tax levels as a means of raising additional Federal matching dollars. This flawed economic approach will only serve to raise the costs of healthcare for every consumer in the state while not directly providing the reimbursement relief touted.
A while back I wrote about the annual/bi-annual shell game that is perpetrated in Wisconsin with the Medicaid program – specifically, the SNF funding and reimbursement components thereto. Now that the Joint Finance Committee of the Legislature has completed its budget process, we can see, fully exposed, how much of the shell game has really … Read more
Here we go again, another round of the bi-annual Medicaid shell game to theoretically increase Medicaid SNF rates in Wisconsin. If you aren’t familiar with this trick, watch closely because the moving parts are designed to confuse you – hence the illusion. The trick starts with the State having a continuing budget deficit overall. Don’t … Read more