Online resource packed with regulatory news and expert guidance, tips & tools pertinent to professionals across the post-acute care continuum.
More than 50% of nursing home residents die or cannot walk within six months of sustaining a hip fracture, according to recently published findings from the from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. More than 33% of residents who suffer from a hip fracture died within six months, the study found. The study […]
Accountable care organizations should be able to place patients in skilled nursing facilities more quickly and communicate which SNFs are preferred providers, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission stated in a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. The fee-for-service Medicare program currently covers skilled nursing services for beneficiaries only after they […]
Q: The resident is on their Part A benefit and is scheduled for dialysis 3 days a week. If the resident leaves the facility @ 11:00PM and comes back at 4:00AM, would each of these dialysis days be considered skip days, needing the MDS scheduled assessment and claims to be adjusted? A: Yes – unless […]
Nearly one in five Medicare patients fall prey to medically related injuries unrelated to their underlying disease or condition, according to new research published in Injury Prevention online. Towson University researcher Mary Carter notes that the adverse events included wrong medication, allergic reactions to medications, and receiving treatments leading to complications over and above an existing […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued final regulations for the Medicare Advantage and prescription drug benefit (Part D) programs that continue efforts to curb fraud and abuse and to improve benefits and the quality of care for seniors and people with disabilities enrolled in these programs. The final rule is projected […]
Long-term care providers who obstruct audits soon could have their Medicare and Medicaid certifications revoked, according to a newly proposed rule from OIG. Currently, individuals and organizations can be removed from Medicare or Medicaid if they are convicted of obstructing a criminal investigation. The Affordable Care Act empowered the government to also kick out those […]
Decreased payouts for nursing home care was one reason that healthcare spending grew more slowly for seniors than for any other age group between 2002 and 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Monday. Average annual growth in per capita healthcare spending was about 4% for the elderly during the eight-year period studied, […]
Surveyors will scrutinize dementia care and Minimum Data Set coding in an upcoming pilot program to test more expansive oversight of these areas, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced. Pilots of the dementia care and MDS coding “focused reviews” are scheduled to begin by mid-2014, according to a memorandum issued Friday. About […]
Q: If a beneficiary changes from one Medicare Advantage plan to another, do they automatically get 100 new days of Skilled Nursing? MAO’s do not report days paid to the Common Working file and unless the SNF informs the new plan of days paid under another plan or that the beneficiary has had previous stays we […]
Chronic underfunding of the Older Americans Act is leading to unnecessary long-term care facility admissions, Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) and 26 of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate said in a recent letter to Appropriations Committee leaders. The lawmakers requested a 12% increase over fiscal year 2014 funding levels for Older Americans Act (OAA) programs such as […]