While shopping for my first condo in 1993, I was initially drawn to new and shiny developments in an area of Boston that was “up and coming.” I visited one abode that seemed promising at first. Its clean walls and white-on-white color palette amplified the light coming through the windows. The wall-to-wall carpeting cushioned my step and felt luxurious, like proof that I’d made it in the world.
Steven Littlehale Featured in Skilled Nursing News: Impending Five-Star Staffing Measures Don’t Address Ongoing Labor Challenges
“The staffing crisis that we’re in is going to be reflected in how the measures are entered into five-star – it’s not going to be this fabricated ideal that CMS has been judging facilities against,” according to Steven Littlehale, chief innovation officer for Zimmet Healthcare Services Group.
Weekend staffing data will also be published on the Care Compare website but will not be part of the five-star system, Littlehale said, at least for now.
Steven Littlehale in McKnights: Which matters most: Social media or Five-Star?
Recently my colleague Ken Kelley, MS, OTR/L, RAC-CT, a clinical consultant/reimbursement specialist, posited something about Five-Star ratings that I hadn’t considered.
He suggested that, in general, consumers would more likely Google a nursing home and read the customer reviews than navigate to CMS’ Care Compare. In our industry, we’re so accustomed to tracking our official star ratings that I suspect we’d likely go to the source, but what about the lay community? Is Ken right — and does it matter?
Steven Littlehale in McKnights: Tough conversations on gender equity, from dinner tables to boardrooms
Sometimes even simple observations can be explosive. I made one recently that managed to bring a congenial dinner party to a halt, causing old and new friends to squirm over their perfectly prepared cod cakes in tomato sauce.
Marc Zimmet Featured in Skilled Nursing News: Why Nursing Homes Shouldn’t Expect Delayed or Phased-In CMS Medicare Cuts
In light of the current operating environment that SNFs face, Marc Zimmet, president and CEO of Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, said the parity adjustment would be at best counterproductive and at worst dangerous, as revenue distribution continues to be the greatest threat to stability.
“SNFs were uniquely burdened by the pandemic. CMS should consider the outsized role skilled nursing played through the pandemic by treating-in-place and caring for higher acuity patients,” Zimmet wrote in an analysis of the proposed recalibration, shared on LinkedIn on Monday.
Marc Zimmet: The 2023 SNF PPS Recalibration Adjustment
The Patient Driven Payment Model is a rare bright spot in Skilled Nursing’s dreary reimbursement landscape, but storm clouds are on the horizon. CMS has proposed recalibrating SNF rates to correct for unintentional spending relative to the RUG system it replaced. The agency refers to this reduction as a “Party” but in the context of a post-pandemic operating environment, the proposal reads more like a “Reimbursement Parody” to me…
Steven Littlehale featured in McKnights “Newsmakers” Podcast
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is launching an ambitious study in support of the first minimum staffing rule for nursing homes. If you think you know how they’ll set their targets and all the reasons they’ll matter to providers, think again. Attorney Drew Graham of Hall Booth Smith and Steven Littlehale of Zimmet Healthcare Services Group walk us through what CMS could and should include in its evaluation.
Steven Littlehale in McKnights: Is ‘location, location, location’ still driving your Five-Star success? Yes!
While reading through Seema Verma’s recent opinion piece, what caught my eye was her apparent amnesia. So many of her criticisms of the current administration had already existed when she held the reins as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
It was distracting, and that’s really a shame because she made some excellent observations and identified some solid go-forward strategies.
Marc Zimmet: The Medicaid Rate Construction Infrastructure Crisis
The codependent Medicare/Medicaid duopsony can no longer balance the SNF financial equation. Medicare Advantage, Alternative Payment Models, and ill-conceived experiments with Managed Medicaid LTC created structural deficiencies the current economic model was not designed to absorb.
Skilled Nursing was saved from pandemic distress by emergency federal funding. Now, in the face of comprehensive reform, policymakers must fortify the industry’s reimbursement foundation. Reliable data is essential for success; without it, a decades old incongruity threatens to destabilize the entire healthcare continuum.
Steven Littlehale in McKnights: Additional staffing metrics point to organizational stability
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, through its consumer-facing website, has made additional nursing home staffing data available. Doing so during a public health emergency, when the industry is in an unprecedented staffing crisis, seems a bit tone deaf.
Nevertheless, the addition presents an opportunity to better understand a nursing home’s pathway to improvement.
