Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
Every year, the accounting firm of Clifton Larson Allen (CLA) produces an industry trends report based on accumulated cost report data. The report provides a good snapshot of the nursing home industry, nationwide, with insights on regions and states. The report is available here: 38th-snf-cost-comparison-and-industry-trends-report As I’ve written on numerous posts on this site, the … Read more
Happy Hump Day eve! There is so much going on right now with the economy, government shutdown (whew, avoided that one for a bit) dynamics, election news, and health policy that it is becoming difficult to parse topics into stuff of value. Hopefully, a couple of quick updates will make room for more insightful analysis … Read more
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
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
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
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
Back in early June, I wrote a post on how Medicare/CMS was intending to audit 5 claims from every participating SNF in the country. The audits would be staggered and conducted by MACs (Medicare Audit Contractors). That post is available here: https://wp.me/ptUlY-AR As we are now three months into the audit process, details are emerging … Read more
Usually I try to add some “light and levity” to my Wednesday features as the content on this site is pretty heavy health policy and economics, regulatory in nature, etc. In my work, my usual Wednesday messages internally are “fun” – a bit of Hump Day humor or whimsy. By title of this post, readers … Read more
With a push to find increasing value in care delivery on the part of payers, providers in assisted living and home health are seeking to carve out a niche in what can best be described as “hospital or acute care” alternative locations. The most forward trend is occurring in home health, known as hospital-at-home care. … Read more