Assisted Living, News, Skilled Nursing Facility

Avoid Medicaid payment delays by being proactive

Written by Becky Ziviski, CPA, LNHA, speaker and author of Profit Without Census: A Nursing Home Administrator’s Guide to Profitability by Department.
Editor’s note: This post is an excerpt taken from the full article originally published in the August issue of PPS Alert for Long-Term Care.
A delay in the application process for Medicaid can have serious financial implications for the nursing facility. It is key to speak early with new residents and family members who might …

News, Skilled Nursing Facility

CMS considers new direction to increase healthcare competition, issues request for information

The CMS Innovation Center is seeking feedback from stakeholders through an informal Request for Information (RFI) to determine a new direction for healthcare systems that promotes patient-centered care and tests market-driven reforms that empower beneficiaries as consumers, provides price transparency, increases choices and competition to drive quality, reduces costs, and improves outcomes. Comments will be accepted through 11:59pm ET, November 20, 2017.
In a press release sent out via email on September 20, CMS states that …

News, Skilled Nursing Facility

20% of Medicare ambulance claims have inappropriate billing for transport

CMS reports that in a September 2015 report, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released results of a study of Medicare Part B ambulance claims. According to the report, almost 20 percent of ambulance suppliers had inappropriate and questionable billing for ambulance transport, creating vulnerabilities to Medicare program integrity. The OIG identified a number of key problems, including:

Ambulance transports for beneficiaries who did not receive any Medicare services at the point of origin or …

Assisted Living, News, Skilled Nursing Facility

Dementia care competencies: Creating a strong foundation

Editor’s note: This post is an excerpt taken from one of HCPro’s dementia titles, Serving Residents with Dementia: Transformative Care Strategies for Assisted Living Providers, written by Kerry C. Mills.
A program for people with dementia cannot be thrown together overnight. Caring for a group of people who have different histories, tastes, interests, personalities, physical abilities, cultures, and beliefs is complex. Given this reality, it should come as no surprise that creating a program that meets …