Washington, D.C. — Enrollment in Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans has exploded over the past eight years, growing 215% since 2018 while general Medicare Advantage plans grew just 49% over the same period. The surge is reshaping how high-need beneficiaries access care — and nursing homes are squarely in the middle of it. According to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, more than 8 million people are now enrolled in Special Needs Plans as of February 2026. That is an increase of nearly 900,000 enrollees in just one year. SNPs now account for roughly 23% of…
Author: Sarah K
Minnetonka, Minnesota — The nation’s largest health insurer is about to make a major change that could ripple through skilled nursing facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare announced it will eliminate prior authorization requirements for 30% of healthcare services starting October 1, 2026, a move that aims to reduce administrative burdens and speed up patient care. The policy change applies across multiple plan types, including commercial plans, Medicare Advantage, Community Plans, Individual Exchange plans, and Oxford plans. According to industry reports, the company is targeting what it calls ‘low-risk services’ — including select outpatient surgeries, diagnostic tests like echocardiograms, and certain outpatient therapies.…
The senior living and skilled nursing sector just posted another quarter of robust merger and acquisition activity, with 240 publicly announced deals totaling nearly $4 billion in the second quarter of 2026. According to a new analysis from LevinPro LTC, the $3.89 billion spent on transactions in Q2 was roughly on par with the $3.52 billion recorded in the first quarter. The deal count—240 transactions—was virtually unchanged from the 241 deals announced in Q1, and well above the 195 deals from the same period last year. Assisted Living Leads the Pack Assisted living communities dominated the transaction landscape, accounting for…
Orange County, California — Residents in ventilator-designated beds at skilled nursing facilities face dramatically higher odds of carrying one of healthcare’s most feared superbugs, according to new research that raises fresh questions about infection control in America’s most vulnerable care settings. The study, published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, tracked 590 residents across seven ventilator-capable nursing homes in California over three years. Researchers found that residents in ventilator-designated beds were nearly three times more likely to be colonized with Candida auris compared to those in standard beds. The Numbers Tell a Stark Story Among residents in ventilator-designated beds, 38.6%…
A new study published in JAMA Health Forum is raising fresh questions about how well Medicare Advantage serves seniors once they get seriously sick. Researchers found that older adults who develop new, complex medical conditions are more likely to leave their Medicare Advantage plans and return to traditional Medicare. The pattern intensifies as their medical complexity grows. The findings carry real weight for nursing homes. Long-stay nursing home residents are increasingly enrolled in Medicare Advantage. In 2023, 36.5% of those residents were in MA plans, according to data published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. That share has…
St. Paul, Minnesota — After more than eight months of delays and bureaucratic wrangling, the federal government has approved an unprecedented plan that will use Medicaid dollars to establish a minimum wage floor for nursing home workers across Minnesota. The agreement, announced Tuesday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, clears the way for $36 million in combined federal and state Medicaid funding to boost pay for the state’s approximately 330 nursing homes. Workers will see their minimum wage rise to $19 per hour for the remainder of 2026, with another increase to $20.50 scheduled for 2027. The wage…
Irvine, California — Nursing homes have long relied on enhanced environmental cleaning to combat dangerous drug-resistant bacteria. But new research from two Southern California facilities suggests that strategy may not deliver the results operators expect. A quality improvement study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open found that universal decolonization of residents — not enhanced room cleaning — was the key driver in reducing multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) carriage and bedroom contamination. The four-phase study, conducted by researchers at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, compared different infection control approaches across sequential periods: universal decolonization only, routine care as a…
Washington, D.C. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved the nation’s first mRNA-based influenza vaccine for adults 50 and older, clearing the way for a new option in nursing home immunization programs ahead of the 2026-2027 respiratory virus season. The vaccine, called mFLUSIVA and developed by Moderna, uses the same messenger RNA technology that powered the COVID-19 vaccines. It’s the first time this platform has been authorized for seasonal flu in the United States. Company research involving more than 40,000 participants found the shot appears to produce stronger protection than traditional flu vaccines, according to industry reports. The FDA…
Lansing, Michigan — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed a civil lawsuit against a nursing home operator and his companies, alleging they accepted more than $111 million in Medicaid reimbursements while systematically failing to maintain adequate staffing levels. The case marks one of the most significant state-level enforcement actions against a nursing home chain in recent memory. The complaint targets Fahim Uddin, Pioneer Health Care Management (doing business as Legacy Healthcare Management), and nine nursing home facilities across southeast Michigan. According to the Attorney General’s office, the defendants billed Medicaid for services they could not possibly have delivered given…
Study finds nearly one-third of nursing home shifts now filled by agency staff, highlighting ongoing workforce challenges and raising questions about care continuity.
