Skilled Nursing Facilities

Skilled nursing facility proposed rule updates payment rates, VBP program

March 29, 2024 - CMS has released the Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS), proposing a payment rate increase, revisions to nursing home enforcement authority, and updates to the quality reporting program. The agency proposed a 4.1 percent increase to SNF payment rates in FY 2025. This update reflects a proposed 2.8 percent increase in the...

Read More


More Articles

How Nursing Homes Can Prepare for Staffing Standards, Gaps

by Victoria Bailey

After experiencing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, long-term care facilities have prioritized strategies to improve staffing levels and care quality. The federal government has taken action, too, proposing minimum staffing standards...

Lower Payment Rates May Help Curb Medicare Spending on Post-Acute Care

by Victoria Bailey

As Medicare Part A is expected to become insolvent by 2033, Congress should reduce Medicare spending on post-acute care by lowering payment rates to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), home healthcare...

CMS Increases 2024 Skilled Nursing Facility Payments by 4%

by Victoria Bailey

CMS has finalized a 4.0 percent increase in Medicare Part A payments to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in fiscal year (FY) 2024. The payment boost translates to $1.4 billion and is slightly higher...

Skilled Nursing Facility Use Increased Following PHE Waiver

by Victoria Bailey

Skilled nursing facility (SNF) episodes for Medicare beneficiaries without preceding acute care increased during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine...

CMS Proposes a 3.7% Boost in Skilled Nursing Facility Payments

by Victoria Bailey

CMS has issued a proposed rule that includes a 3.7 percent payment update for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and changes to the SNF Quality Reporting Program (QRP) and the SNF Value-Based Purchasing...

SNF Vertical Integration Tied to Higher Utilization, Fewer Readmissions

by Victoria Bailey

Vertical integration of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in a hospital network was associated with increased SNF utilization, decreased readmission rates, and lower episode payments, according to a...

Higher Spending on Nursing Home Staff is Not Tied to Better Staffing Levels

by Victoria Bailey

Nursing homes with higher shares of Medicaid residents directed more revenue toward workers but had lower staffing levels, indicating that a minimum nursing staff expenditure regulation would not...

GAO: CMS Nursing Home Ownership Information Lacks Transparency

by Victoria Bailey

CMS nursing home ownership information does not align with the characteristics of effective transparency tools, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). CMS oversees the...

Significant Staffing Challenges Continue for Nursing Homes

by Victoria Bailey

Nursing homes are experiencing the most significant staffing challenges of any healthcare sector and have lost 210,000 jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from the American Health...

AHA Urges MedPAC to Consider Higher Medicare Payment Updates for 2024

by Victoria Bailey

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has asked the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to consider higher Medicare payment updates before issuing its final recommendations, including...

CMS Increases Oversight Policies for Low-Performing Nursing Homes

by Victoria Bailey

The Biden-Harris Administration has updated oversight policies for the Special Focus Facility (SFF) program in an effort to improve the quality and safety of low-performing nursing...

Biden Administration Releases Data on Nursing Home Ownership

by Victoria Bailey

The Biden-Harris Administration has released additional Medicare nursing home ownership data to help boost nursing home transparency, safety and quality, and accountability. The publicly available...

CMS Urges States to Tie Nursing Home Medicaid Payment to Quality

by Jacqueline LaPointe

CMS is pushing for more value-based reimbursement, this time for nursing home Medicaid payment. The federal agency has sent an informational bulletin to states urging them to tie Medicaid payments for...

CMS Final Rule Boosts Medicare Payments for Skilled Nursing Facilities

by Victoria Bailey

CMS has finalized a 2.7 percent increase in Medicare payments for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in its SNF Prospective Payment System (PPS) final rule for fiscal year 2023. The $904 million...

Private Capital Investments May Help Sustain Skilled Nursing Facilities

by Victoria Bailey

Skilled nursing facilities need private capital investments to support innovation that will allow them to continue providing care to older adults, according to an ATI Advisory analysis commissioned by...

AHA Opposes Proposed Payment Cut for Skilled Nursing Facilities

by Victoria Bailey

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has urged CMS not to cut Medicare payments for skilled nursing facilities in fiscal year 2023, as the agency put forth in its Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF)...

COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Boosted Nursing Home Staff Vaccination Rates

by Victoria Bailey

Following the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for nursing home staff, the vaccination rate among facility workers increased across the country by 25 percentage points, according to an issue brief from the...

Large Hospitals with Low Profits Saw More Ownership Changes

by Victoria Bailey

Medium and large hospitals with low profit margins were more likely to experience ownership changes between 2016 and 2021 compared to their smaller and more profitable counterparts, according to a new...

CMS Releases Skilled Nursing Facility PPS Proposed Rule for FY23

by Victoria Bailey

CMS has released its proposed Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) rule for fiscal year 2023, which includes a reduction in Medicare payments for SNFs. The proposed payment...

Recent Articles