The nation's first nursing home rating system is an important tool for consumers, but changes can be expected, said the country's highest health official on Tuesday. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said criticism about always assigning certain percentages of facilities "excellent" or "failing" grades is "serious" and deserves further consideration.

Between 1997 and 2007, the number of nursing homes providing training and certification programs for certified nursing assistants (CNAs) fell by more than a third, according to a recent report.

Some states will receive additional funding for insurance information programs for seniors after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services terminated a federal contract with Fox Insurance Company.

Want to raise a colleague's blood pressure? Just casually mention the government's five-star rating system.

The average price per bed for skilled nursing facilities rose slightly in 2009, while the price per bed in assisted living facilities fell, according to the 15th edition of the Senior Care Acquisition Report from Irving Levin Associates Inc.

The healthcare reform package, if passed, will add almost a decade of solvency to the Medicare program, President Obama told seniors Monday during a stop in Ohio.

Nearly 4,500 of Illinois' mentally ill nursing home residents soon will have the option of moving into community-based programs, according to the terms of a groundbreaking settlement between the state and the American Civil Liberties Union.

After narrowly passing a healthcare stopgap bill that included a therapy caps extension package, Democrats in Congress are finding it difficult to bring their major reform proposal across the finish line, according to recent reports.

Peter C. Clendenin, executive vice president of the National Association for the Support of Long Term Care, disclosed on Friday he will retire. A replacement has not yet been named.

The Food and Drug Administration Friday placed a black-box warning—its most severe safety labeling—on the blood thinner Plavix. In a statement, it said that the drug could put certain patients at increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

President Obama on Wednesday instructed the heads of all executive departments and agencies to increase their use of "Payment Recapture Audits" to reduce the amount of improper Medicare, Medicaid and other similar payments.

Profits at long-term care provider Advocat Inc. plummeted in the fourth quarter of 2009 as revenues increased slightly.

Black and Hispanic Americans are at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than white Americans, according to a recently released Alzheimer's fact sheet.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Tuesday ended its contract with Fox Insurance Company after an on-site review revealed serious policy violations. It represents the first time that CMS has terminated a contract with a Part D drug plan since the drug program began in 2006, according to CMS.