Articles and Blogs

On March 1, 2022, President Biden outlined his plan to increase the quality of patient care, resident safety, regulations, fines and ownership transparency in skilled nursing care during his State of the Union address. The day before, on February 28, 2022, President Biden released a fact sheet titled “FACT SHEET: Protecting Seniors and People... READ MORE

On December 11, 2019, the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality/Quality, Safety & Oversight Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a memorandum to State Survey Agency Directors entitled “Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Mission & Priority document (MPD) – Action” (“FY 2020 Memo”) that announced its work and intentions for the fiscal... READ MORE

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) is revising its Nursing Home Compare Five-Star Quality Rating System to add a red alert icon to a skilled nursing facility’s profile if the facility has had a high-level abuse citation and/or repeat abuse citations. Changes to CMS Nursing Home Compare Website On October 7, 2019, CMS... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has rated nursing facilities since 2009 for three areas of performance: Health Inspections, Staffing, and Quality Measures. From 2009 through 2011, more than 40% saw an improvement in overall rating, while only around 27% had a most recent rating that was lower than the first.  READ MORE

As part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ongoing program to reduce the rate of anti-psychotic use in nursing facilities, the recent changes to the Nursing Home Compare (NHC) website included reports of the usage rates of anti-psychotics in a facility’s score.  However, there is a discrepancy between the methodologies utilized... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) just released the 2012 Nursing Home Action Plan; a guide for CMS’ efforts to continue to improve nursing home safety and quality.  The plan features 5 actionable strategies, including: enhance consumer engagement; strengthen survey processes, standards, and enforcement; promote quality improvement; create strategic approaches through partnerships; and... READ MORE

In an on-going push to regulate the use of antipsychotic medications in nursing facilities, another piece of legislation has failed to pass Congress.  The Senate did not pass a proposed regulation that would have standardized protocols for obtaining informed consent before administering antipsychotics for off-label use.   READ MORE

The Nursing Home Compare website, originally launched in 1998, is set to launch with a redesign July 19th.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) claims the redesign adopts industry design and usability best practices while also incorporating a considerable amount of new information to increase transparency and usability for consumers.   READ MORE

On the heels of last week’s failure for the antipsychotic measures to pass the Senate, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has just announced an initiative to reduce antipsychotic use in nursing facilities.  Yesterday, CMS officials announced a multi-year initiative to improve dementia care for residents of nursing homes by reducing the inappropriate... READ MORE