Washington, D.C. — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is deploying artificial intelligence to root out healthcare fraud before bad actors ever collect a single dollar — and early results suggest the approach is working at a level that’s turning heads inside the agency. CMS Chief Operating Officer Kim Brandt, speaking at a recent government technology conference, described a “Netflix-style algorithm” the agency is now using to screen new provider applicants. The system compares incoming enrollment data against the full history of everyone CMS has ever taken action against — flagging high-risk applicants before they can begin billing Medicare,…
Author: Chaya S
Washington, D.C. — A federal advisory panel is calling on Congress to take a direct role in fixing the long-term care workforce shortage — and the fix it’s proposing starts with something surprisingly simple: knowing what caregivers are actually paid. The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission released its March 2026 Report to Congress this week, recommending that states be required to publicly report the hourly wages paid to home- and community-based services workers. The goal is to give state Medicaid programs better data to set competitive payment rates — and, ultimately, to slow the revolving door of caregivers…
For the better part of three years, the fate of federal nurse staffing standards for nursing homes has been fought out in courts, budget resolutions, and agency rulemaking. The Biden administration’s landmark minimum staffing rule — a 3.48-hour-per-resident-day floor backed by 24/7 registered nurse coverage — was paused by Congress, challenged in federal court, and ultimately repealed by CMS in December 2025. Now Senate Democrats are trying something different: put the standards directly into law, where courts and regulators can’t quietly unwind them. On February 12, 2026, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Nurses Belong in…
NANTUCKET, Massachusetts — The vote was 4-3, but the weight of it was much heavier. Nantucket’s Finance Committee voted this week not to recommend a $134 million proposal to build a new skilled nursing facility on the island — dealing a fresh blow to the future of Our Island Home, the only municipally operated nursing home in Massachusetts. The decision sends the project to May’s Annual Town Meeting with a negative recommendation, and it may be running out of road. Town Manager Libby Gibson made the stakes plain before the vote was taken. “If the project does not receive the…
A major new study has confirmed what many long-term care workers have long argued: when nursing homes don’t have enough certified nursing assistants, residents fall — and get hurt. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, analyzed data from more than 1.1 million Medicare beneficiaries across 11,183 nursing homes across the United States. Researchers set a benchmark of 2.45 CNA hours per resident per day — the recommended threshold for adequate coverage. What they found was striking: nearly 70% of nursing homes aren’t meeting it. And those facilities are seeing the consequences in their fall…
Albany, New York — After 68 years of caring for Capital Region seniors, St. Peter’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Hackett Boulevard in Albany is closing its doors. The nonprofit facility’s operator cited a projected $60 million price tag for required building upgrades — money it says it simply doesn’t have. St. Peter’s Health Partners announced the closure Friday. The New York State Department of Health has already approved the facility’s closure plan. Five short-term rehab patients will be discharged, while the facility’s 96 long-term residents will transfer to locations of their choosing over the next three months. “The projected cost…
Saint Paul, Minnesota — A bill moving through the Minnesota Legislature would effectively shut private equity firms out of the state’s nursing home market if they’ve faced even a single lawsuit over the past ten years — a move that supporters say protects residents but that critics warn could choke off investment in an already struggling industry. Under the proposed legislation, private equity companies, real estate investment trusts, and other entities that collect capital investments would be barred from buying or operating nursing homes in Minnesota if they were named in any legal case at any of their facilities within…
New York, New York — Nursing home residents in states that have had formal end-of-life planning programs in place the longest are significantly more likely to die in the facility or in hospice — rather than in a hospital — according to a first-of-its-kind national study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. The research examined Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment programs — commonly called POLST or MOLST — across all 50 states, tracking how the age and maturity of those programs affected where nursing home patients spend their final days. The findings were clear: the longer…
Chicago, Illinois — Pay raises for long-term care executives kept coming in 2025, but the pace eased again, according to newly released compensation data covering companies that operate nursing homes and other senior care businesses. The latest multi-facility compensation report from Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service found corporate executive salaries rose 3.36% in 2025. That was down from 3.52% in 2024 and 3.69% in 2023, a sign that compensation growth is still moving higher, just not as fast as it did a few years ago. For finance leaders, the gap between smaller and larger organizations remained wide. Median base pay…
Dallas, Texas — Creative Solutions in Healthcare, one of the country’s most active nursing home operators, has made a significant leadership move — and the shift says a lot about where the company is headed. The Texas-based organization has promoted Chris Eamiguel from chief financial officer to chief strategy officer. In his new role, Eamiguel will focus on capital markets, public policy, enterprise strategy, and expanding the company’s real estate platform. To fill the CFO seat, Creative Solutions brought in Steve Post, a former Trinity Healthcare CFO with extensive long-term care finance experience. Growth That Demands a New Structure The…
