Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
Two articles in my email caught my attention to start the week. Both have to do with SNF closure risks, one regarding rural facilities and the other regarding staffing challenges. Interesting enough, both cross the same issues for closure, approached however, somewhat differently. I’ve written about this subject for years now yet, attention has only become acute … Read more
Happy First Hump Day of 2024! Short weeks aren’t really deserving of a Hump Day, but it is officially a Wednesday that is not a holiday in a workweek (though I’m sure many are still off from the Christmas/New Year’s season). Thus, no matter deserved or not, it is my first Wednesday Feature and therefore, … Read more
Happy 2024! I trust everyone had a blessed and happy holiday season and rang in the New Year with joy and optimism. Across the last two months of 2023, JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) has published two studies on private equity ownership in healthcare, specifically in hospitals and SNFs. Not to accuse JAMA of having … Read more
Yesterday, a story in the Washington Post highlighted a series of wandering cases where residents from an Assisted Living or Memory Care facility wandered and were later, found dead. Industry insiders knew this story was coming and yesterday, it dropped. In many ways, it is eerily similar to a PBS story a decade ago around poor care/neglect … Read more
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is (likely) recommending to Congress a series of post-acute rate reductions (Medicare, Fee-for-Service) for federal fiscal year 2025 (beginning October 1, 2024, for most programs, January 1, 2025, for Home Health Agencies). Specifically, the MedPAC recommendations are as follows. Reduce the 2025 payment rate for home health agencies by 7%. … Read more
TGIF and Happy Hanukkah (to my Jewish colleagues and friends)! A major concern as the demographic in the U.S. ages is senior housing and services affordability. The expanding cohort of seniors in terms of real purchasing power, is not as financially fit as prior generations. The Baby Boomers for example, while well paid in their … Read more
I follow Medicaid but don’t often get many inquiries around Medicaid policy or requests for articles in this subject area. Medicaid, however, is very important for providers, especially post-acute and senior living, as it is typically, a significant if not majority payer. During COVID and the public health emergency, Medicaid policy and CMS enacted requirements … Read more
I get asked about value-based care a lot. It is a buzzword or term these days, somewhat driven by the rise in Medicare Advantage enrollment. Frankly, it is a bit of a catch-all concept that has its origins in Medicare and various demonstration projects (e.g., bundled payments) and the implementation of quality measures to “improve … Read more
A complex area for providers, especially with respect to their compliance programs, are the concepts of fraud and abuse. Central to current requirements for compliance programs, all post-acute providers are REQUIRED to have compliance programs that, Include policies and procedures to define, test for, and mitigate any issues pertaining to fraud and abuse. In this … Read more
Happy Hump Day! I was going back through some historic stuff and I landed in 2010. The year 2010 was, after further review, eerily similar to right now, economically speaking. Sadly, not much has changed in terms of health policy and the economic state of healthcare. In 2010, the economy was choppy, recovering or trying … Read more