Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
In another procedural vote on the revamped Jobs bill in the Senate, Democrats fell short of mustering 60 votes to end a Republican filibuster, effectively ending for now, legislative efforts to extend unemployment benefits. The vote count was 57 to 41 to continue debate. Dying with the extension of unemployment benefits are a series of … Read more
After a mid-week roadblock was established on a procedural vote all but derailing the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act and the integrated provisions that included a “doc fix”, the Senate doubled-back on Friday and passed a separate measure that patches the pending cuts (21%) in the physician fee schedule set for June 1. … Read more
Yesterday the Senate, via a procedural vote, set a roadblock on the continued track toward passage for the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. The original version, re-crafted by the House to lower the price tag and then sent to the Senate, found limited traction on Wednesday. Oddly enough, the House version effectively trimmed … Read more
As the Senate is set this week to take a vote on the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (see my related posts), a key provision within the legislation having to do with implementation of the SNF payment system known as RUGs-IV remains in limbo. The PPACA (health care reform bill) required implementation of … Read more
Prior to the Memorial Day recess (holiday), the House passed its re-shaped version of the bill. The re-shaping primarily involved spending constraints; reaction to wide-spread criticism (public) of current (and recent) Congressional deficit spending binges as well as a realization that fall elections draw ever closer. Specifically, what the House did was: Abandoned any additional … Read more
Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold introduced a bill today targeted at “improving the quality of care in nursing homes”. The bill was introduced by Feingold in response to the efforts of the Wisconsin Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (WAHSA – non-profit, industry trade association) to have the federal government investigate the wide discrepancies … Read more
Funny title that is rather misleading given the gravity of the health care/post-acute care provisions that are included in this bill. As is the case in Washington, especially these days, important health care provisions not addressed in the PPACA are coming forward in other bills; particularly bills involving unemployment benefits and COBRA benefits, etc. Such is … Read more
The title of this post likely appears a tad bifurcated but as you read through it, the title should make a bit more sense. In the past two weeks, I’ve had numerous conversations with potential buyer’s looking at or for (to acquire), senior housing projects (AL, IL, some CCRC and a few SNFs). Invariably, the conversations … Read more
I had a phone conversation earlier today with a friend and colleague (he’s part owner of a rehab consulting and management company) and as we talked, the conversation reminded me about the host of issues facing health care administrators. Our conversation flowed to long-term care and specifically, SNFs (he spends a lot of his time … Read more
My firm (Grubb & Ellis/Apex Healthcare) is conducting a quick and simple research project, surveying health care providers regarding the costs incurred during their preparation for the H1N1 pandemic that never occurred. We’d like anyone from a hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility, hospice, home health agency, physician’s practice, ambulance service, etc. to give us a brief … Read more