September 24, 2012
A legislative proposal would require long-term care facilities to produce a monthly aggregate report of antipsychotic utilization in each facility, in addition to conducting a drug regimen review process.
May 29, 2012
The U.S. Senate did not approve legislation that would strengthen regulations for antipsychotic use in nursing homes, despite overwhelmingly passing a bill it was attached to on Thursday.
May 23, 2012
A proposed bill would require nursing home staff to obtain informed consent from a resident or their legally designated representative acknowledging the potential risks and side effects associated with the antipsychotic medications.
May 23, 2012
If you were beginning to worry that some of long-term care's most prominent needlers had forgotten to show up for work for most of the last year, you weren't alone. Good news: They're OK and feeling back to their old selves. And it looks like they've recruited a new crony.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services cannot be certain that it is budgeting accordingly for Quality Improvement Organizations' (QIOs) quality-of-care reviews because of potential reporting errors. That is a according to a report released this week by the Government Accountability Office.
November 22, 2010
To the relief of physicians everywhere, the Senate voted Thursday to put off a 23% cut in Medicare pay for doctors until Dec. 31.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services needs to have more oversight of Medicare contractors, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) recently argued.
May 27, 2010
A new governmental report released Wednesday shows that federal nursing home surveyors continue to identify more deficiencies in care than state surveyors, but the discrepancy is shrinking.
April 22, 2010
Donald Berwick, the current nominee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, likely will face questions over his views of end-of-life care during his Senate confirmation hearings, according to recent news reports.
A recent New York Times article has sparked a Senate investigation into Select Medical Corp., one of the country's largest long-term care hospital providers.
February 16, 2010
Just hours after unveiling a jobs bill that would extend the therapy caps exceptions process and delay a pay cut for Medicare physicians, Senate leaders last week scrapped it in favor of a bill that contains neither of those provisions.
February 12, 2010
Senate Finance Committee leaders Thursday issued a draft of a jobs-creation bill. The legislation would extend the Medicare Part B therapy caps exceptions process and delay through Sept. 30 an impending 21% cut in payments for Medicare physicians.
February 05, 2010
One bipartisan group of senators is petitioning Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to postpone implementation of the cap on Medicare Part B outpatient therapy reimbursements.
My how things change. Just a month ago a healthcare reform bill seemed en route to passage. Now its very existence is in question and, by extension, some key long-term care services are too.
December 21, 2009
An official Medicare payment error report is a month past due, and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) is not pleased about it.
Nursing home providers reacted positively to the release of the Senate Finance Committee's healthcare reform bill Wednesday. They were particularly pleased that the bill would not lower the market-basket update for nursing homes.
September 02, 2009
Congress is preparing to return to Washington D.C. after an eventful August recess. Democrats and Republicans are looking to ramp up efforts at passing, or, in some cases, derailing healthcare reform.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) has made it clear that his committee would not finish deliberation on its healthcare reform proposal before the summer recess begins this Friday.
