Details emerged this week regarding a proposed second economic stimulus package, which would contain more than $2 billion in healthcare funding.

The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday approved the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act, which would outlaw the signing of an arbitration agreement as a prerequisite to admission in a nursing home.

The American Health Care Association asked Congress to help improve the tracking of sex offenders and develop a definition of "sex offender" in an effort to improve residents' safety.

Seniors who take four or more prescription medications have two to three times the risk of falling as seniors who take fewer meds, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina. Some of those drugs, the researchers say, may actually contribute to the risk of falling.

States should more thoroughly investigate deaths of people with developmental disabilities who were receiving home- and community-based services for care, according to a new government report. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should pressure states to review such deaths more closely, the Government Accountability Office says.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday sent to committee a measure that would further encourage the use of health information technology in all provider settings, including nursing homes.

Five major nursing home chain owners received a solicitation this week from an organization that may be considered a horse of a different color: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also known as PETA.

The five-star rating system introduced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services may be new for nursing homes on a national scale, but it's old hat in the Sunshine State.

Nursing home operators wasted little time Wednesday issuing rebuttals to the federal government's announcement that it would create and publish individual facility rankings on its Web site by the end of the year.

MedPAC's recent recommendations to revise the payment system for skilled nursing facilities drew praise Monday from the head of the largest nonprofit association for long-term care providers.