Baltimore, Maryland — You’ve probably seen the headlines: millennials are set to inherit trillions from their baby boomer parents in the biggest intergenerational wealth transfer in American history. A new report says that story leaves out a critical detail. For millions of middle-class families, that wealth is quietly disappearing — one nursing home bill at a time. The Roosevelt Institute released a study examining how long-term care costs are gutting the financial security of older Americans and the children they planned to leave something behind for. The findings are striking. After care needs begin, middle-class individuals face permanent wealth reductions…
Author: Chaya S
Santa Fe, New Mexico — When Genesis HealthCare filed for bankruptcy last July, it was the latest chapter in a long decline for one of the country’s largest nursing home chains. But for families who had already won — or were close to winning — legal settlements over neglect and abuse at Genesis facilities, the bankruptcy filing wasn’t just bad news. It was a threat to everything they’d fought for. Attorneys now say those plaintiffs could end up recovering only “pennies on the dollar” from their settlements, and some may get nothing at all. The situation has come into sharper…
Washington, D.C. — A growing rift among hospice providers over whether the federal government should temporarily ban new hospice enrollments is raising questions about what the fallout could mean for nursing home residents who depend on end-of-life care. The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation has formally asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to impose a temporary nationwide moratorium on new hospice provider enrollments. The goal: give regulators breathing room to root out the wave of fraudulent operators that’s been draining billions from Medicare and Medicaid. But not everyone in the industry agrees that a blanket freeze…
Lincoln, Nebraska — In less than two weeks, Nebraska will make history as the first state in the nation to enforce federal Medicaid work requirements — and hospitals and clinics say they’re not prepared for what’s coming. Starting May 1, able-bodied Medicaid expansion enrollees between ages 19 and 64 must work, volunteer, or participate in qualifying activities for at least 80 hours a month to keep their coverage. Nebraska is moving eight months ahead of the national deadline set by Congress last year, and the fallout is already visible. “Everyone’s just kind of guessing right now” That’s how one clinic…
Indianapolis, Indiana — Nearly 500 nursing homes across Indiana are waiting on hundreds of millions of dollars they were supposed to receive months ago — and a federal approval bottleneck is the reason the checks haven’t arrived. State officials confirmed that $462 million in supplemental Medicaid payments owed to 496 nursing facilities remain frozen, pending federal sign-off on Indiana’s payment structure for the current fiscal year. The state submitted its methodology to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services back in June 2025 — nine months ago — but CMS has continued to respond with questions and requests for more…
Henrico, Virginia — A northern Virginia nursing home is facing more than $114,000 in federal fines after health inspectors documented a pattern of the most serious safety failures — findings that state officials say highlight why the commonwealth needs to rethink how it polices long-term care facilities. Parham Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, located in Henrico County, was cited in December by Virginia Department of Health inspectors for a “systemic failure” to prevent resident abuse. According to inspection records, inspectors identified 11 victims, most of whom had been physically assaulted by other residents. In several cases, the facility failed to investigate…
A clinical specialist at your nursing home documented a three-pound weight gain and shortness of breath in a resident with congestive heart failure. Nobody called the doctor. Nobody updated the care plan. Four days later, the resident was back in the hospital — and now surveyors are reconstructing exactly how it happened. That’s the kind of scenario federal and state inspectors are trained to unpack, according to two experienced long-term care compliance experts who recently outlined how nursing homes are actually evaluated during surveys. Their message to administrators: it’s rarely one bad outcome that triggers a serious deficiency. It’s the…
Washington, D.C. — The federal government just handed nursing homes a potential lifeline for one of their most persistent problems: finding and training enough certified nursing assistants to meet demand. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released guidance memo QSO-26-08-NH on April 8, clarifying and expanding flexibilities for Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Programs, known as NATCEP. The memo signals that CMS is actively trying to clear the bottlenecks operators have complained about for years — but it doesn’t let anyone off the hook for maintaining quality. What’s Actually Changing The memo is part of CMS’s broader push…
Washington, D.C. — A federal advisory body that shapes Medicare policy is pushing for more nursing homes to adopt a specialized insurance model that’s keeping residents out of hospitals — and it’s warning that policy barriers are holding the program back at exactly the wrong time. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) presented new findings this month showing that Institutional Special Needs Plans, known as I-SNPs, are doing what they were designed to do. Residents enrolled in these plans receive more on-site care, fewer hospital trips, and more frequent nurse practitioner visits than those in traditional fee-for-service Medicare. MedPAC principal…
Baltimore, Maryland — Federal regulators are proposing to revive and expand a bundled payment program for joint replacements — a model that, last time around, pushed care away from nursing homes and toward cheaper alternatives. This time, it would be mandatory for hospitals nationwide. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the proposed CJR-X model on April 10, describing it as a nationwide expansion of the original Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program. The original CJR ran from 2016 through the end of 2024, and by CMS’s own accounting, generated an estimated $112.7 million in net Medicare savings across…
