A surveyor’s testimony took the spotlight recently in a criminal fraud trial involving leaders of two nursing homes. Susan Williamson, director of nursing care facilities for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, outlined an alleged pattern of cost-cutting by evading state staffing regulations at two skilled nursing facilities — Mt. Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness and Brighton...
Strikes like the massive one threatened by Kaiser Permanente’s California blue collar workers last month could be a sign of what’s to come for the broader healthcare sector, if providers can’t find ways to raise pay and otherwise improve working conditions. That was one warning from a panel of nursing experts who spoke during a...
When some residents had no gifts to unwrap one Christmas morning, the staff of Princeton Health Care Center decided to do something about it. PHCC launched the annual Adopt-a-Resident program in 2019 — going beyond the facility’s usual family gift-giving tradition and asking the local community to pitch in with donations for residents so that...
Operational pressures continue to shape the landscape of the skilled nursing sector as many organizations with assets across the care continuum are divesting nursing homes in favor of other service lines. Responding to pressures from staffing and low reimbursements, Ohio Living decided to act “proactively” and downsize its skilling nursing segment while growing its services...
The past year or two have seen big wins in terms of increased Medicaid funding for nursing homes – a welcome relief as the sector faces staffing shortages amid a looming minimum staffing proposal, higher inflationary costs and rising acuity of resident needs. The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL)...
Open enrollment is well underway for Medicare, as television viewers inundated with cheesy insurance company ads can tell. Those ads must work. For the first time 2024 will see most Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in private insurance – so-called “Medicare Advantage” (MA) – as opposed to fee-for-service (FFS) traditional Medicare. In signing Medicare into law in...
Aging services providers are increasingly concerned that powerful Medicare Advantage plans will not fall into line under new federal rules, which were once seen as the possible beginning of a tide change for beneficiary rights. Changes to Medicare Advantage slated to kick in Jan. 1 were designed to ensure plans extend their enrollees the same...
It’s a weird thing to find yourself becoming a cheerleader for higher unemployment. But the news last week that new unemployment filings climbed to their highest level in three months could be very good news indeed for the skilled nursing sector. A downturn in hiring in other sectors has often been viewed as a way to fuel...
I’d like to announce that the folks who run Medicare Advantage plans will be shaking in their boots soon, fearful of what authorities are going to do to them. But I also like to tell the truth. So there will be no pronouncements of grievous Medicare Advantage practices, and the leaders behind them, being yanked...
The healthcare industry is a highly regulated and complex field that requires meticulous and sophisticated financial management to ensure regulatory compliance, cost reduction and efficient operations. The cbs business office in healthcare industry refer to a wide range of services such as purchasing, payroll, Revenue Cycle Management, account payroll, and Financial Controllership services. These services...
