Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
A major concentration within my firm, H2 Healthcare, is compliance work. My wife heads this section of the practice, and she is widely known as one of (if not THE) the foremost post-acute/senior living experts on clinical quality, compliance, and risk mitigation/risk management. Her book on reducing survey risk for SNFs is still available on … Read more
After a few days of mid-summer weather (90s, humid), my calendar says fall is right around the corner, even if the weather doesn’t. I love fall. It’s my favorite time of year. Living in the upper-Midwest, fall can be just spectacular. Soon, the days will be warm and the evenings chilly. Woodfire smoke (not the … Read more
No other segment of senior living/senior care got rocked as much by the pandemic as skilled nursing. Frankly, the industry had challenges from labor shortages and lagging reimbursement entering the pandemic (2020). The pandemic didn’t just accentuate these issues, it blew them up in terms of magnitude (impact) while adding supply chain issues, inflation, and … Read more
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! This morning, CMS dropped a proposed rule for a staffing mandate for SNFs. On Wednesday, I wrote about the delays (staffing mandate) and the information from a CMS contracted study completed by Abt and Associates. That post is here: https://wp.me/ptUlY-LM The consensus around the staffing mandate issue is that CMS was bogged … Read more
I ran across this yesterday in a publication I get called Becker’s Hospital Review. I recall seeing much of the content before and really liking it. It is from famed investor and Chair of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet. It is content from his letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders from years back, 1977 to be exact. … Read more
It seems like I have been writing a lot on staffing issues these past few months, and I have. Staffing along with the current economy, are a Hydra today (two headed serpent), negatively impacting provider financial conditions and patient care in many forms (access, outcomes, care coordination, etc.). A few months ago, I wrote a … Read more
Happy Hump Day! Another Wednesday with news too heavy to ignore. I’ll try to return to some levity and light in future Wednesday features. For a number of years, CMS has been playing with developing a staffing level mandate. The first CMS study from 20 years ago recommended a 4.1 hours per day benchmark. Recently, … Read more
Back a few weeks ago I did a post summarizing the 2024 Final PPS Rule for Skilled Nursing Facilities. Recall, these rules come out yearly, updating payment rates and other provisions impacting payment and some, impacting policy. Typically, the initial or proposed rule starts in spring and then after comments, etc., becomes final during the … Read more
Last week, the 2024 Presidential campaign season kicked into full swing with the first candidate debate. Arguably, momentum has been building ahead of the debate, especially in Iowa, during the State Fair, where candidates roamed, gave speeches, and pressed the flesh. I was there one day and enjoyed seeing Tim Scott and few other notables, … Read more
As foretold in the SNF PPS Final Rule, CMS was going to fine tune the MDS/RAI manual prior to October 1 when the new 2024 Fiscal Year starts. Generally, data such as this update comes much closer, sometimes even after the October 1 implementation date. Providers get a break for a change. Initial proposed changes … Read more