The much-anticipated report outlining COVID-19 problems in nursing homes and offering corresponding recommendations elicited a range of opinions from stakeholders Thursday.
Cynthia Morton, a key go-to person for expertise on long-term care and post-acute care public policy issues, developed her path one step at a time.
Nursing homes will be required to have Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waivers to perform COVID-19 point-of-care tests. As a result, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is working to expedite the review of applications.
Nursing home operators and the rest of the country may soon know the key components in a fourth, and likely final, coronavirus relief package from the federal government.
Therapy providers will now be able to offer their services through telehealth to Medicare patients after the federal government announced a new set of rules and waivers Thursday. The move should help facilitate therapy to nursing home residents during the pandemic, the head of a key long-term care group said.
Skilled nursing providers found both good news and bad news Thursday in a House bipartisan agreement statement on a Medicare extender package.
Provider groups exhaled Friday following the death of a so-called “skinny repeal” healthcare bill that could have opened the door to Medicaid funding cuts.
While pleased with a court decision mandating that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should do better in explaining maintenance coverage under the landmark Jimmo case, leading long-term care experts said more can be done.
Coming changes to the Five Star rating system for nursing homes will “cause some disruption,” but many long-term care providers already are on track, according to American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living President and CEO Mark Parkinson.
The Senate approved the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act, drawing praise from the American Health Care Association and the National Association for the Support of Long Term Care.
