60 Seconds with Ben Swett: CMS’ Vaccine Mandate Heading to Supreme Court
The Supreme Court hears oral arguments this week on the CMS rule mandating that staff working for Medicare or Medicaid certified providers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with narrow exceptions for religious and medical reasons. The rule was enjoined by a court order in 25 states, but CMS announced at the end of December that it would start enforcing the new rule in the states where it could. However, our question is does anyone know how serious CMS is in implementing this rule? In today’s political environment there is a ton of bluster with little accomplishments. We have seen the government and its agencies make bold declarations and new rules, sometimes with a wink to their... Read More »December 2021 Webinar – Skilled Nursing M&A: Two Years After The COVID Outbreak, Who’s Still Buying and at What Prices?
About the Webinar: There is no question that nursing facilities were the hardest hit during the pandemic, both in the media and with a significant drop in census. Yet, providers and investors continued to buy, albeit usually at lower average prices. The sector’s reputation took a huge hit, and the talk about home health and other models grew to replace the standard nursing facility model with semi-private rooms. But most of those models are more costly, and the funds simply are not there in the state and federal budgets. The skilled nursing sector has long been the low-cost producer in senior care, and with rising acuity levels, assisted living usually can’t replace it. And home health... Read More »Roy E. Christensen, Industry Pioneer, 1934-2021
We learned at the end of last week that skilled nursing facility pioneer Roy Christensen passed away at the age of 87 after a short illness. Most recently, he was the Chairman of The Ensign Group, but his history in the skilled nursing industry goes back nearly 60 years. In 1963, he founded Beverly Enterprises, which grew to be the largest nursing home company in the country, with more than 1,000 facilities across the country. At the time, the company had a two-rate structure: $7.35 per day and $9.10 per day. That was certainly another era. He left Beverly in the mid-1970s and started teaching full time at Brigham Young University. He returned to the... Read More »Webinar | Labor: Finding it, Retention & Coping with Higher Wages | October 21, 2021
About the Webinar Going into the pandemic, the seniors housing and care sector was already struggling with the supply and cost of labor. When unemployment skyrocketed, some believed that would begin to alleviate the supply problem. But early on, it did not seem to have the expected effect, as many potential employees were scared off by the risk of working in senior care where so many residents and staff had contracted the virus, not to mention that the supplemental unemployment benefits were a disincentive to taking on a new job. Under the Biden administration, there will be a push for a $15 federal minimum wage, if not higher over time, a level that will cause financial harm for some... Read More »
New York Times Hits SNFs, Again
The New York Times hit one of its favorite punching bags again with an article titled “Phony Diagnoses Hide High Rates of Drugging at Nursing Homes.” In it, the Times alleges that a loophole not requiring nursing homes to report antipsychotic prescriptions for three uncommon conditions, including schizophrenia, has led doctors associated with the facilities to false diagnose schizophrenia in patients with dementia. Since these patients require much more time and attention from an already overworked and underpaid staff, the Times reasons that SNFs would rather drug them than provide real dementia care. Some of the stats seemed damning. An analysis of Medicare data showed that schizophrenia... Read More »Schedule a demo
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