09 Nov
Unfrozen Staffing Star Ratings Rise, Defying Expectations
Source: CMS Frozen No More At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, CMS issued several waivers to help facilities focus on patient care rather than on reporting requirements. In addition to the earlier halt of standard Survey activity, these waivers covered both MDS and PBJ data, resulting in freezes to several of the Star Rating domains. But […]
21 Oct
SNF Trends Report Underlines Correlation Between Star Ratings, Occupancy and Operating Margin
Image credit: CLA Recently, respected advisory firm CliftonLarsonAllen released their latest SNF Cost Comparison and Industry Trends Report. CLA explores several prevailing themes in an industry besieged by challenges, including issues with decreased liquidity and occupancy, the rise of telehealth, and the continuing importance of PDPM to the bottom line. But one of the findings […]
16 Oct
Covid-19 and Nursing Homes: Controlling Community Spread
With their high concentrations of vulnerable residents, Nursing Homes are particularly susceptible to outbreaks of Covid-19. Countless news stories have documented the ravages of the disease among seniors in these facilities, with the death toll registering over 58,000 by the end of September per CMS data. The effort to safeguard Nursing Home residents has been […]
06 Aug
New Infection Control Fines: Knowing What To Expect
On June 1, CMS outlined the details of the enforcement actions or penalties that can be levied against facilities for their performance on the new Targeted Infection Control Surveys. We’ve written before about issues with past Infection Control deficiencies and about the new IC Surveys, but now, the two combined can be a significant liability […]
27 May
Assessing Operational Risk Remotely – The New Norm for Healthcare Lenders
CMS released its monthly updates today, and with them, some major changes as a result of Covid-19. Per CMS's memo on March 23rd, most normal Survey activity has...
06 May
Nursing Home Investors, HUD and CMS Quality Star Ratings: The Data Don’t Lie
Just like Google star ratings for restaurants, hotels and hundreds of other industries, star ratings result in a real financial impact for nursing home operators and investors. But it’s the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) star ratings...