60 Seconds with Monroe: SNFs and Medicare Advantage
As you all know by now, I have been enrolled in traditional, fee-for-service Medicare for nearly four years, while all my friends but one have enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Why? Because that is all they see advertised. Some did not even know there was an alternative. Skilled nursing operators have known for a decade or more that MA plans are stingy when it comes to payments, now up to $100 lower per patient day compared to traditional Medicare. It is now coming out that MA plans are not just stingy on what they pay providers, they are also stiffing their members as to what they will pay for, and how often. And this is affecting patient care in the post-acute setting, according... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Medicare Advantage Tipping Point
We attended the Zimmet Conference dubbed “Roaring Reimbursement” last week at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and as always, the program was highly informative on the skilled nursing reimbursement and regulatory environment. The tidbit that really stuck in our minds, which was probably the intention of Marc Zimmet in his opening remarks, was that we had reached a tipping point of Medicare Advantage enrollment overtaking traditional fee-for-service Medicare enrollment, surpassing 50% as a percentage of total beneficiaries. Not only that, but despite the total number of beneficiaries increasing, the absolute number of traditional Medicare beneficiaries is declining. This will lead to fewer SNF... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Long, Slow Brookdale Recovery
Brookdale Senior Living came out with its Q2 earnings, and the occupancy results revealed just how prolonged the post-pandemic recovery has been for seniors housing and care, making many early predictions of a swift return to pre-pandemic census sound more and more ridiculous in hindsight. The good news is that Brookdale reported its highest month-end occupancy since before the pandemic, at 78.5%, up 30 basis points from the previous month and up just 10 basis points from the previous high recorded in September of last year. The bad news is the fact that Brookdale has taken this long to get back to last fall’s level of occupancy. To us, that is not “progress” in the larger goal of getting... Read More »
60 Seconds with Monroe: Ode to Stew
An ode to an industry veteran on his 60th birthday. Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Two Cheers for the SNF Rate Bump
CMS came out with its final skilled nursing facility payment rates for fiscal year 2024, and the sector will benefit from a 4.0% net increase, or approximately $1.4 billion, in Medicare Part A payments. That is up from the initially proposed 3.7% net increase and reflects a 6.4% net market basket update to the payment rates. There were a couple of negative adjustments that brought the net rate increase down, including a negative 2.3% decrease as a result of the second phase of the PDPM parity adjustment recalibration. That reduction came as no surprise, as PDPM was meant to be budget neutral and has been a net-benefit to many SNFs since the 2019 implementation. But to the SNF advocates... Read More »Schedule a demo
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