New Payment Model by CMS Pushes for more Treatment in Long-Stay Nursing Facilities

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today a new initiative to reduce avoidable hospitalizations among long-stay nursing facility residents. This announcement, about the new payment model, is part of an ongoing focus to improve quality of care in post-acute and long-term care settings. “CMS is announcing a new funding opportunity that will…test…

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Proposed FY 2016 Skilled Nursing Facility Payment and Policy Changes

On April 15, CMS issued a proposed rule (CMS-1622-P) outlining proposed FY 2016 Medicare payment rates for the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS). Based on proposed changes contained within this rule, CMS projects that aggregate payments to SNFs will increase by $500 million, or 1.4 percent, from payments in FY 2015. This…

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Round 3: March VBP Madness Play of the Day — Winning Relies on Successful Passing

As post-acute care providers, we must embrace the patient-driven direction created by VBP. We need to understand a good quality outcome is the best result for the beneficiary. The rehospitalization metric, specifically, will push us to provide a better continuum of care, relying on good communication and safe care transitions between health care entities. It…

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