At face value, the statistics look grim: Nearly three-quarters of the nation’s skilled nursing facilities will see pay cuts in 2019 under the government’s value-based purchasing (VBP) program after failing to reach mandated readmission benchmarks. But the numbers themselves don’t tell the full story, according to players in the long-term health care space. Based on the initial round of public data, first reported Thursday, 73% of SNFs will see lower Medicare fee-for-service reimbursements...

Despite losing $58.1 million in the third quarter of 2018, leadership at Genesis Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: GEN) appeared upbeat during this past earnings season — and last week, they got an early Christmas present that seems to justify their optimism. Financial services company Stifel upgraded its outlook on the Kennett Square, Pa.-based skilled nursing provider from hold to buy, favorably evaluating the prospects of both the company and the marketplace as a whole. “We see early signs of...

The Department of Health and Human Services’ top fraud watchdog recovered nearly $3 billion from providers in fiscal 2018, a figure that included more than $18 million in improper payments to nursing homes. The HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) touted its $2.91 billion haul in its most recent semiannual report to Congress, released at the end of last week, tallying 764 criminal actions and the removal of more than 2,700 providers from the approved Medicare and Medicaid rolls. “OIG...

The leaders of the newly merged ProMedica and HCR ManorCare on Tuesday peeled back the curtain on their plans for the future, with a specific focus on using an in-house insurance plan to test ideas for expanded partnerships. Speaking in friendly territory — the stage at new landlord Welltower Inc.’s (NYSE: WELL) investor presentation in New York City — ManorCare president and CEO Steven Cavanaugh and ProMedica president and CEO Randy Oostra offered their first joint look at their combined...

Three prominent members of the Trump administration called on individual states to eliminate Certificate of Need (CON) laws regarding the development of new health care facilities — including nursing homes — characterizing the statues as anti-competitive and detrimental to consumers. Writing in a sweeping, nearly 120-page report on health care reform, the secretaries of the Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor departments — Alex Azar, Steven Mnuchin, and Alexander Acosta,...