SNFs and HHAs: A Common, Concerning Trend

Current economic and government policy conditions have converged to create a concerning trend for home health and SNF providers. The trend for both segments is loosely known as “referral rejection”. The number of referrals that both provider types are rejecting is up considerably since the start of the pandemic and for now, I see no … Read more

In-Depth: CCRCs First Quarter 2023

The smallest distinct segment of senior housing is Life Plan communities or CCRCs. Assisted Living, Independent Living and Skilled nursing, in each segment, dwarf the number of CCRCs yet, CCRC popularity remains and continues to grow, if ever so slowly. CCRCs run a gamut between large and small, entry fee to rental, with/without SNFs yet … Read more

Friday Feature: The Supreme Court and Medicaid Beneficiary Rights to Sue

TGIF! In a little known but important case argued in November of 2022, the family of a Medicaid nursing home resident in Indiana began a suit against a publicly owned nursing home (originally 2016), Valparaiso Care and Rehabilitation. The nursing home is operated by the Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County. The corporation’s board … Read more

Top 5 Tips for Recruiting in a Tough Labor Market

I’ve done a number of presentations on the staffing challenges facing providers and how, certain strategies work and others don’t in terms of recruitment and retention. Over my 30 plus years in the industry, I’ve had reasonable (ok, very good) success in building and retaining high-performing teams, including direct care staff. I’ve been fortunate to … Read more

Executive Order – Staffing and Medicare Implications Update

Yesterday I wrote a post regarding a significant (and large) Executive Order coming via the Biden Administration concerning long-term care, child care, staffing in nursing homes, expanded supports under Medicaid for long-term care and childcare, etc. The post is here: https://wp.me/ptUlY-uM . While I have yet to obtain the text of the order, I have … Read more

Staffing and Turnover: Medicare Payment Implications?

This morning, I caught some reporting on the Biden Administration’s plan to issue an executive order, a rather large order, that will include several provisions related to jobs and long-term care. Recall in recent articles on staffing on this site, I’ve noted that the Biden Administration and CMS are working on promulgating rules under Medicare … Read more

Medicare Claims, Audits, Denials and AI

AI or Artificial Intelligence has been in the news a lot over the past few months. ChatGPT is the program that I’ve seen the most about. Elon Musk has come forward warning of the advance of AI and its implications for societies. I’ve seen story after story about how AI has the potential to be … Read more

Friday Feature: Nursing and LTC

Each Friday (hopefully so), I will take a specific topic that has been in the news or been directly posed to me by a colleague or a reader and do a bit of a deep dive feature. This week it’s the future of nursing or more directly, nurses in senior housing and long-term care. As … Read more

Econ Update

In this new category of snapshots, I’ll grab some data and headlines and offer a few insights on a topic. This week is full of key economic data regarding inflation. Reading through the data for many can be a bit daunting. Likewise, lots of the data is more geeky than useful in daily life and … Read more