Trends

Senior Living Rate Increases are Slowing: Revenue Diversification Offers Opportunities

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As inflation has cooled, senior living rate increases are slowing. Growing occupancy has been a function of incentives, particularly rate concessions and discounts.  The greatest use of discounting is in independent living, particularly Life Plan organizations/CCRCs. And, while rate increases shift lower, revenue does as well.  Unfortunately, operating cost increases are not subsiding, especially with … Read more

Sr. Living Capital Access Still Challenged

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Last week, a report from NIC (National Investment Conference) dropped covering the fourth quarter (2023) lending activity in senior living. As in prior quarters, capital access remains challenged. Data for the report came from 17 lenders, including banks, commercial real estate services, financial services companies, government sources, investment management firms, and real estate investment trusts. … Read more

Maryland SNF Class Action Suit: Nursing Home Residents Seek Mandatory Inspections

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Happy Hump Day! Reg’s Blog is back up and running! Lots of stuff has happened over the past couple of weeks that the site was under construction or should I say, remodeling. I’ll try to get caught up on the important stuff and ultimately, get current as new events, etc. happen. Yesterday, an interesting lawsuit dropped … Read more

Wednesday Feature: Massachusetts Nursing Home Residents Set to Transition to Community Living with $1 Billion Settlement

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Happy Hump Day! Last week, the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, Kim Driscoll, announced the settlement of a class action lawsuit filed against the state by six disabled nursing home residents. The suit was filed in 2022 alleging that the state underfunded community-based care options, trapping them in nursing homes despite their wishes to return to … Read more

CMS Final SNF Staffing Rule Released

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Late yesterday, CMS released the draft of the Final Rule consistently defined as the “staffing mandate rule”. Earlier in the day, I wrote a post about the final staffing rule and the final Medicaid access rule. At the time, CMS had only notified everyone about the final rule(s) contents via a press release. The actual … Read more

Regulation Monday: SNF Staffing Mandate and Medicaid Access Rule

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Just announced this morning, CMS has finalized two hotly debated proposed rules into final rules. The final rules involve the SNF staffing mandate proposed last year and the Medicaid Access Rule, requiring 80% of payments for Medicaid HCBS programs go to compensation for direct care workers. The Medicaid Rule follows the original proposed rule while … Read more

Challenges Persist in Staffing for U.S. Life Plan Communities and Skilled Nursing Facilities

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Monday, Fitch Ratings dropped a Non-Rating Commentary about staffing challenges in Life Plan and SNF organizations. Per the release, “Though growing for some time, payrolls for U.S. life plan communities (LPCs) and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are still well off the pace needed to reach a full post-pandemic recovery.” Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data … Read more

Wednesday Feature: Budget Stuff…Cubed

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Happy Hump Day! Busy day so far but wanted to sneak this post in, wrapping up the last two days of posts on budget (federal, Medicare) stuff. This being the third day and post on budgets (and last for a while, I promise), the title fits – cubed. https://rhislop3.com/2024/04/15/monday-budget-day/ https://rhislop3.com/2024/04/16/medpac-report-to-congress-a-wrap-with-monday/ What follows is a different … Read more

MedPAC Report to Congress: A Wrap with Monday?

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Yesterday I wrote a post on President Biden’s healthcare budget. Today, I thought a quick visit back to March and MedPAC’s Annual Report to Congress on payment and program adequacy would be a good “wrapper” – for now. Every year, MedPAC (the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission) reports to the Congress in March on the Medicare … Read more

Monday = Budget Day

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As much as politics consumes the news, little on policy is included. Most days, the political stuff such as trials, Congressional hearings, back and forth tabloid (almost) stuff is front and center, missing is the “meat”. Reminds me of the 80’s Wendy’s commercial titled, “Where’s the beef?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riH5EsGcmTw While I know that the national election, … Read more