As the long-term care industry comes to terms with the nursing home staffing mandate, there are many factors for operators to consider as they plan for the coming years. The final rule on staffing, which has been received with harsh criticism from the industry, establishes updates to facility assessment standards on top of the minimum staffing requirement of 3.48 hours per resident per day (HPRD), including 0.55 HPRD of direct RN care and 2.45 HPRD of direct nurse aide care. Changes to facility assessments – unlike the other requirements in the final rule that are years away from implementatio ..read more

A vast majority of nursing homes in the U.S. fall short of meeting the staffing requirements in the new rule issued by the federal government, an analysis of the most recent payroll based journal (PBJ) data shows. According to USA Today’s analysis published Thursday, nearly all nursing homes nationally will have to hire more nurses to be in compliance with the final rule on minimum staffing standards issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The gap is significantly wider in many Southern states, the article said. It includes a map with data for all the federally funded ..read more

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided more details Wednesday on the implementation of facility assessments and exemptions extended to nursing homes over the final staffing rule. In a national stakeholder call, CMS officials addressed these issues as well as the possibility of modifying the minimum staffing thresholds in the future along with their decision to include licensed practical nurses to count towards the minimum staffing requirements. “CMS plans to conduct ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the staffing requirements within this final rule as they are implem ..read more

For most nursing home residents, the time they spend in the skilled nursing facility falls at the end of their lives. This time is usually filled with stress, uncertainty and frustration. Skilled nursing providers have the job of giving patients the care they need along with the even greater role and responsibility to prioritize patients’ and families’ wishes on how the patient wants to spend their remaining time. Much of this responsibility can be addressed — essentially providing an improved resident and family experience — through advanced care planning. “Advanced care planning is the heart ..read more

In a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that the risk of fractures was numerically higher among subgroups of residents with dementia, higher baseline blood pressure values, and recent antihypertensive medication use. The retrospective cohort study analyzed data from 29,648 long-term care nursing home residents within the Veterans Health Administration (VA) from January 1, 2006, to October 31, 2019. The researchers utilized a target trial emulation approach to assess the association between antihypertensive medication initiation and fracture risk. The key findin ..read more

The Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services’ (CMS) officials said Tuesday that they are confident that facilities will be able to meet the newly finalized staffing mandate’s requirements given the plan to implement it in three phases. “As the rule’s provisions are carefully calibrated and carefully phased in, we believe that with time, with the careful phase in, facilities can meet the requirements,” officials said during a call with media. “And while some facilities will certainly have to add staff because they have very low staff ratios today … these changes are very much affordable.” C ..read more

While many industry leaders vociferously condemned the finalized federal staffing requirements for nursing homes that were released on Monday, analysts covering publicly traded companies in the sector were relatively circumspect. They see the requirements as posing a risk, but analysts who communicated with Skilled Nursing News also generally remained upbeat about the longer-term prospects for the industry – and emphasized the battle still to be waged before the rule is slated to take effect. The staffing minimums are slated to be in place within three years, or five years for rural facilities ..read more

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday unveiled the finalized minimum staffing standards for nursing homes, drawing sharp – and deeply apprehensive – responses from leaders in the sector. CEOs of nursing home owners and operators and leaders of industry associations were all but unanimous in their reactions; among those who spoke out on Monday, Sabra Health Care REIT (Nasdaq: SBRA) CEO Rick Matros called the rule “unacceptable,” while New Hampshire Health Care Association CEO and President Brendan Williams compared the rule to Star Wars’ “Death Star.” Katie Smith Sloa ..read more

The nursing home minimum staffing rule has been finalized, impacting all nursing homes that receive federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid, according to an announcement from the White House. The rule mandates a minimum of 3.48 hours per resident per day of total staffing, with specific allocations for registered nurses (RN) and nurse aides. For every resident per day, the staffing requirements include 0.55 hours from registered nurses and 2.45 hours from nurse aides, according to a fact sheet released by the White House this morning. This translates to facilities with 100 residents need ..read more

Hospital systems that had high telemedicine usage during the Covid-19 pandemic also had higher skilled nursing facility spending, compared to health systems with lower telemedicine usage in that time period. That’s according to research findings published April 17 in Health Affairs. Specifically, compared with health systems defined as having low telemedicine use, high-telemedicine health systems had an inflation-adjusted $75 differential increase in skilled nursing facility spending per person, which equated to a relative increase of 9.5%. The researchers also found that inpatient hospital ad ..read more