A budget impasse in California has left nursing homes in a tenuous financial position.

The average monthly premium for standard beneficiaries in the Medicare Part D drug program is expected to rise by $3 next year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid disclosed Thursday.

New York State could severely slash nursing-home funding under Gov. David Paterson's (D) budget proposal. Other states could follow suit as they struggle with budget deficits.

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.

Fall-prevention education can help reduce the number of emergency-department visits and healthcare costs in Connecticut, a state-funded report found.

Increasingly, nursing homes are illegally turning out residents to help their bottom lines, according to an analysis in The Wall Street Journal.

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.

Last week's decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to halt its planned $770 million cuts in Medicare Part A payments to nursing homes for fiscal year 2009 drew loud praise from the long-term care sector.

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.

Medicare providers will not face penalties if they do not collect retroactive fee increases from beneficiaries as a result of changes to Medicare payment rates, according to the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.