Washington, D.C. — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is tightening its grip on Medicare fraud — and skilled nursing facilities are squarely in the crosshairs. In a proposed rule published this week, CMS outlined new enrollment safeguards that would allow the agency to claw back improper payments retroactively for all Medicare provider revocations, regardless of the reason. The agency estimates the changes could save roughly $82 million annually. “These proposals would give CMS stronger tools to protect Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayer dollars from fraud, waste, and abuse,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a press release. For…
Author: Sarah K
Washington, D.C. — More than a fourth of nursing homes across the country have reported at least one serious deficiency this year, according to a new KFF analysis released Thursday. About 5% of those deficiencies reached the level of actual harm or immediate jeopardy to residents — a category that includes risks of injury, impairment, or death. That translates to roughly 6,700 health deficiencies serious enough to threaten resident safety. Most were isolated incidents rather than widespread problems, the report found. Staffing shortages tied to worse safety records KFF researchers pulled the data from CMS’s Nursing Home Care Compare database.…
Rock Island, Illinois — The former owner of a nursing home here has been charged in an alleged scheme that prosecutors say generated more than $64 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for durable medical equipment. Rajiv Shah, who until April held a majority stake in St. Anthony’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, faces federal charges of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and wire fraud, according to an indictment filed in the Southern District of Florida. The case is part of the Department of Justice’s 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, a sweeping enforcement effort that has charged 455 defendants nationwide. The…
Denver, Colorado — Colorado nursing homes are running on fumes, and state regulators just handed them another blow. New data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows 40% of Colorado nursing homes racked up severe deficiencies in 2025 — a jump from just 14% in 2019. That puts Colorado fifth in the nation for serious violations, trailing only Illinois, South Dakota, Delaware, and Rhode Island. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had 175 active investigations open in June, with 89 involving nursing homes specifically. Regulators have already issued at least 317 fines since 2023, and the…
Washington, D.C. — Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund is now projected to run dry in 2033, a full quarter earlier than previously estimated, according to the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report released earlier this month. For skilled nursing facilities that depend heavily on Medicare Part A reimbursement, the timeline carries real implications. The trustees pointed to changes in the 2025 budget reconciliation bill as the primary driver behind the accelerated depletion date. Lower-than-expected Social Security tax revenue — one of the main funding sources for Part A — has reshaped the program’s financial outlook. Nursing home spending through Medicare reached approximately…
Columbus, Ohio — The Ohio state legislature has cleared $875 million in long-overdue Medicaid payments for the state’s nursing homes, ending a yearlong standoff over a flawed reimbursement formula. There’s a string attached, though: operators who take the money must waive future legal claims tied to the disputed payments. The measure, tucked into a larger omnibus bill, now awaits Gov. Mike DeWine’s signature. The funds represent quality incentive payments operators earned but never received because the state’s Medicaid rate calculation didn’t match what Ohio law required. A formula that cost providers nearly a billion dollars Ohio’s nursing facility operators argued…
Washington, D.C. — Local paramedics and police officers may soon become a more active line of defense against nursing home abuse, thanks to a new federal training package built to teach them what to watch for and how to act on it. The U.S. Department of Justice partnered with the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care to release a toolkit aimed at frontline first responders. It includes eight short module videos and matching fact sheets that walk EMTs, firefighters, and police through the kinds of situations they’re likely to run into when they’re called to a long-term care facility,…
Atlanta, Georgia — A new wave of nuclear courtroom verdicts is reshaping the legal risk facing nursing home operators, and plaintiffs’ lawyers are no longer stopping at the bedside. They’re going after the investors, asset managers and private equity firms sitting behind the buildings, and juries are rewarding them with awards that are climbing into nine figures. That’s the picture sketched by attorneys, insurers and industry analysts as the legal climate for skilled nursing grows tougher. According to industry sources, an “aberrant” or “nuclear” verdict typically refers to any jury award above $10 million that exceeds what the underlying economic…
Nursing home occupancy is climbing again, rents are rising at the fastest pace since the financial crisis, and yet almost no one is breaking ground on new buildings. That’s the strange picture coming out of a new Marcus & Millichap report, which lays out a sector where demand is finally outrunning supply — but the math on new construction still doesn’t pencil. According to the brokerage, skilled nursing occupancy topped 87% in the first quarter of 2026. That’s the highest mark recorded since 2016, and it’s been enough to push annual rent growth above 5% — a pace the industry…
Lebanon, Pennsylvania — A federal bankruptcy judge has signed off on the $40 million sale of Cedar Haven Healthcare Center, closing out months of legal wrangling over a Pennsylvania nursing home that has now stumbled into its second bankruptcy since the county sold it off in 2014. Judge Henry Van Eck approved the deal at a May 19 hearing in Harrisburg, according to local reports. The sale won’t close for roughly 60 days, but the path is set — and it marks another chapter in a privatization story that hasn’t gone the way Lebanon County hoped. The bidding got fierce…
