Long-term care facilities have exactly five years to fully equip their facilities with automatic sprinkler systems, according to a final rule published Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

States are not reporting those Medicaid providers that have been suspended or excluded from their state programs, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.

A leading nursing-home association is calling for an independent panel to come up with new methods for overseeing nursing facilities. The association's task force issued 31 recommendations Tuesday, highlighting steps that can be taken until such a panel can be convened.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently identified cardiovascular disease and neurology as top research priorities for the field of eldercare.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is asking states to coordinate their Medicaid policies with Medicare's hospital-acquired condition payment policy so states do not bear the burden of paying for adverse events.

Reversing earlier plans, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will not trim $770 million in Medicare Part A payments to nursing homes in the next fiscal year. This development comes as welcome news to long-term care providers, who had rallied against the planned cuts.

While the number of Medicare Part D program complaints has fallen since the program began, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services still has problems resolving critical program complaints.

Nearly half of the nation's senators have voiced objections to proposed Medicare cuts of $770 million in fiscal year 2009, according to the American Health Care Association and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care.

President Bush today may veto H.R. 6331, a measure that would temporarily delay the full implementation of therapy caps and a 10.6% cut in Medicare physician pay.

Redesigning the regulatory survey of nursing homes would help determine how far current resources can be stretched to improve quality, according to a panelist who participated in a long-term care reform conference held on Friday.