CCRCs: Ready, Set, Market!

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As we head now into the new year, it makes sense for CCRCs to pre-ordain the recovery just a bit and move back into a modest-aggressive posture, qualifying and securing new residents. Even with a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, no CCRC owner/operator should expect there to be a great deal of pent-up demand. Seniors aren’t monitoring CCRC opportunities and the market and economic conditions favorable for sales – that frankly is the CCRC’s job. In order to get “back in the game” so to speak, a CCRC’s marketing approach may need to be tactically tweaked. The next generation of marketing plans will need to be different, for quite some time, from those of say two years ago.

Health Care Reform: Back to the Senate and All that Jazz

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Watching this reform process, at least for me, is now like watching a Ping Pong match or a Nascar race (sorry Nascar fans); back and forth and round and round.  Even for someone who watches and interprets health policy for a living, this stuff is getting boring, monotonous and frankly, now somewhat nauseating, content wise.  Maybe the … Read more

House Approves Doc Payment Fix

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Last night via a 243 to 183 vote, the House approved a bill that would stave off the projected 21% cut in physician (fees) reimbursement under Medicare, set for January 1, 2010.  The “Doc Fix” has been a hot-button issue within the health care reform debates as both the House and the Senate have not been … Read more

Medicaid and Health Care Reform

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With so much discussion and news review on Medicare spending and health insurance reforms at the center of the health care reform debate, Medicaid has taken a back-seat in terms of analysis on its programmatic impacts.  Today, Medicaid costs 76% of the cost of Medicare and covers approximately 20% of the population.  In the recently … Read more

Health Care Reform: Getting to the Details

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Its been about ten days since the House passed its version of health care reform and just now,  it is possible to unwind and assess some of the cost/price details that are buried within the 2,000 page bill.  Similarly, it is also possible for the general public to begin the process of digesting the ramifications … Read more

Health Care Reform in the House: A Post Mortem

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Late Saturday night by the slimmest of margins, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962 otherwise known as the Affordable Health Care Act for America – three votes the other way and the Bill would not have passed.  The Bill weighs in at over 2,000 pages (2,034) and represents the first major “stab” at reforming … Read more

Affordable Health Care for America Act: Implications for SNFs

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This weekend, the House is reportedly set to vote on their version of healthcare reform – H.R. 3962.  The bill is a “monster”; nearly 2,000 pages long.  The title belies the fact that the Bill doesn’t just attempt to create “affordable health care” – it goes much, much further.  For example, embedded within the hundreds of … Read more

CMS Releases Hospice Stats

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Within the past two weeks, CMS released data from 1998 to 2008 for length of stay and diagnosis trends.  What is interesting to note is the utilization trends (length of stay and numbers) over the period as well as the diagnosis correlated to utilization.  For CMS and in particular MedPAC, the prevailing concern has been … Read more

Healthcare Reform: Now the House Version

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Earlier today, Speaker Pelosi introduced the re-tooled House version of healthcare reform, now titled The Affordable Health Care Act.  The 2,000 page bill is the result of weeks of backroom negotiations designed to forge a possible consensus, principally among Democrats, and to financially wrangle, a targeted budget neutral spending level.  According to Pelosi, the Bill … Read more

Healthcare Reform Update: Inside Baseball Time

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If you are a baseball fan, you’ll appreciate the correlation between a baseball game and the present course of healthcare reform.  A baseball game starts with anticipation and fanfare; speeches, the throwing out of the first pitch, the national anthem and the players taking the field.  The fans settle in and the game begins with cheers … Read more