Behind the success of PACS Group���s (NYSE: PACS) high-growth model is the nursing home giant’s principle of entrusting its early career administrators with greater autonomy. In rejecting the traditional path, PACS allows administrators in training the opportunity to step into their roles with greater independence much earlier. Enabling new leaders to make crucial decisions and […]
Category: Staffing
The Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition received a $1.69 million grant to support nursing home staff and improve resident quality of life. The funds were provided by The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF). In a press release issued Monday, the Coalition said that over the next three years, it plans to use the funds […]
The new facility assessment requirements that federal agencies are expecting will guide decisions on staffing levels are also garnering concerns about potential administrative and financial burdens, particularly for smaller-sized nursing home chains. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) modified the existing requirements in late June, issuing expanded guidance to include metrics that are […]
Democratic lawmakers Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jan Schakowsky are criticizing the nursing home sector’s main trade associations for their opposition to the federal government’s minimum staffing mandate, calling their role an attempt to “sabotage” improvements in care. The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) and LeadingAge, representing thousands of […]
Amid plans to launch the largest provider-owned institutional special needs plan (I-SNP) in the U.S., Brickyard Healthcare is also making sure it surpasses certain other challenges facing the sector. Along with this endeavor, eliminating agency use, preparing for managed Medicaid in Indiana, and being ready to face the staffing mandate, have all been top of […]
A Supreme Court decision on Friday could significantly weaken federal agencies’ authority to regulate industries, including powers of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), with wide implications for the recently finalized federal minimum staffing rule for nursing homes. The Supreme Court’s decision to discard the long-standing so-called Chevron doctrine is a “game changer,” […]
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is lending its voice to the fight against the minimum staffing mandate, and joining hands with nursing home organizations as well as a coalition of lawmakers to overturn the federal government’s rule. By sending a letter to lawmakers Monday, AHA boosted the bipartisan bid to halt the staffing mandate through […]
Skilled nursing assets at continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) have long been subject to downsizing for a variety of reasons, including operational challenges, the cost to care for skilled patients and regulatory hurdles. Add to this list: the severity of the nursing home survey process. Stu Almer, CEO of Gurwin Healthcare System in New York, […]
The crisis involving patients languishing at hospitals awaiting discharge into appropriate post-acute care settings has shown little signs of abating. The root causes of these discharge delays are manifold, but chief among them are workforce shortages at nursing homes. According to experts at a webinar hosted by ATI, the discharge crisis is amplified by a […]
Nursing home expenditures increased by 8.3% between March and April, second only to home health. Spending grew by 7.1% across the health care continuum year over year in April, as nursing care facilities saw a 1.8% decrease in employment compared to pre-pandemic numbers, according to a report by Stephens Inc. Meanwhile, nursing care facilities saw […]
Even though Derek Prince, CEO of HMG Healthcare, has been encouraging new initiatives to improve staffing at this organization and is celebrating wins on that front, he is fully aware of the unfolding crisis the federal minimum staffing mandate will represent for providers across Texas. Hence, Prince, who is also a board member of the […]
Georgia nonprofit A.G. Rhodes’ CEO, Deke Cateau, is all about solutions. To that end, he has had a busy couple of years, successfully expanding one of the operator’s three campuses to be all private rooms with a dementia area built with the household model in mind – a $37.5 million endeavor. Cateau said he would […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its first enforcement guidance for the minimum staffing mandate, which will allow surveyors to assess nursing home compliance using facility assessments, although experts said little clarity was offered on key points of the provision. The provision on facility assessments was issued in Tuesday’s Quality Safety & […]
Low pay and inadequate benefits are the drivers of high turnover and burnout among direct care workers in long-term care, including nursing homes, resulting in a staggering shortfall in care hours required versus those actually delivered, according to a new report. The report released Tuesday and produced by the Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP), in […]
Texas-based Touchstone Communities hasn’t been slowing down this year, with the operator busy acquiring and building properties. On top of brick-and-mortar updates, Touchstone also partnered with Longevity Health in January to offer institutional special needs plans (I-SNPs) to its residents. It’s very thoughtful, controlled growth aimed at diversification of assets, said Leslie Cunningham Campbell, COO […]
In the midst of the nursing home sector staging a legal fight against the federal government’s staffing mandate, an important consideration at play is the backlog of survey inspections that could significantly impact the attainment of exemptions from the minimum staffing requirements. It has been well documented that a shortage of surveyors has led to […]
Nursing home operators in Florida will see an 8% increase in their Medicaid funding, or $247.8 million – that amounts to $470,000 per facility. Gov. Ron DeSantis this week signed the Focus on Florida’s Future Budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, which included the significant Medicaid funding increase to support the growing demand for caregivers and […]
Operators have been opting for different payer sources other than Medicare Advantage plans given its persistent challenges. Medicare Advantage’s lower reimbursement rates compared to traditional Medicare and higher administrative burdens tied to prior authorizations and payment denials, have caused operators to seek even Medicaid as an alternative payer, emboldening efforts by advocacy groups to push […]
The federal government’s new staffing requirements for nursing homes present a formidable challenge – even impossible some say – for facilities nationwide, and operators must focus now on creating workers that don’t exist. The current reality is stark: if the requirements were enforced today, a vast majority of nursing homes in the U.S. would fall […]
Renovating nursing homes to uplift the resident experience can improve not only property value and overall quality of care, but also regulatory compliance. Staffing and retention are ever-present roadblocks at nursing facilities, and upgrading the overall atmosphere can actually help alleviate some of these roadblocks, with caregivers wanting to be in a building that’s easier […]