Chapel Hill, North Carolina — For years, dementia care in nursing homes has followed a familiar script: diagnose it, slow its progression with medication, manage the symptoms. But a growing body of research is pointing toward a different front in the fight — the gut. A new systematic review published in Nutrition Research synthesized evidence from 15 studies involving more than 4,000 adults aged 45 and older with cognitive impairment or at elevated risk of dementia. The findings were clear: multiple approaches to reshaping the gut microbiome — including probiotics, prebiotic supplements, Mediterranean and keto diets, and fecal microbiota transplants…
Author: Sarah K
Washington, D.C. — The White House has released its proposed budget for fiscal year 2027, and the numbers aren’t pretty for the healthcare industry. The Trump administration is asking Congress to cut $15.8 billion — roughly 12.5% — from the Department of Health and Human Services, dropping the agency’s discretionary funding from about $126.9 billion to $111.1 billion. For nursing homes already navigating a CMS agency stretched thin on staffing, the proposal raises serious questions about what federal oversight of long-term care will look like in the years ahead. The budget, released Friday, targets several agencies that directly or indirectly…
Baltimore, Maryland — For years, most nursing homes have sat on the sidelines of Medicare’s shift to value-based care, watching other providers collect shared savings while facing the administrative burden and financial risk that made participation unworkable. A new federal model just changed the math. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officially opened applications for the Long-term Enhanced ACO Design — or LEAD — model on March 31, marking what regulators are calling the most ambitious accountable care initiative the agency has ever designed. Applications are due May 17, 2026, with the program launching January 1, 2027. What the…
Washington, D.C. — Federal regulators are pushing healthcare facilities to clean up what they serve patients — and nursing home operators say the new guidance is headed their way too. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent a memo to hospitals in late March directing them to overhaul their menus in line with the updated 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The guidance, championed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, calls for eliminating ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, and refined carbohydrates — replacing them with whole grains, lean proteins, vegetables, and minimally processed ingredients. “For…
Portland, Oregon — Healthcare workers account for just 10% of the American workforce. But they absorb nearly half of all non-fatal workplace violence injuries — 48%, according to a 2024 CDC study. And Congress, despite growing urgency, remains at a standstill over how to fix it. Two competing bills are circulating in Washington, each backed by major industry groups, each reflecting a fundamentally different theory of the problem. Two bills, two visions The Workplace Violence Prevention Act would require healthcare employers — including nursing homes — to develop and implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans. Advocates say the root cause…
Washington, D.C. — A new peer-reviewed study is raising serious alarms about who would actually lose Medicaid if Congress expands work requirements nationwide — and the answer isn’t who most politicians assume. Published March 31 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the study found that roughly 8.3 million adult Medicaid enrollees — about 50.4% of the 16.5 million adults ages 19 to 64 studied — would face disenrollment because they work too few hours. What makes the findings particularly troubling for long-term care advocates: those most at risk aren’t able-bodied individuals choosing not to work. They’re people with serious physical…
Anaheim, California — For years, nursing home clinicians treating tardive dyskinesia had to piece together a care approach on their own. There were no formal guidelines, no structured screening protocols, and no consensus on which treatments worked best in long-term care. A new expert panel just filled that gap. A multidisciplinary Delphi panel, convened by Neurocrine Biosciences, has released what’s being called the first-ever expert consensus recommendations for screening, diagnosing, and treating tardive dyskinesia (TD) specifically in long-term care settings. The findings were presented at the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine’s PALTC26 Annual Conference in Anaheim, California. Tardive…
Washington, D.C. — The federal agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid for more than 160 million Americans is trying to carry out one of the most ambitious regulatory agendas in its history — with roughly 1,000 fewer workers than it had two years ago. A new report lays out the tension clearly: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lost around 300 employees in the Trump administration’s sweeping federal workforce cuts last year. Since then, voluntary departures and retirements have pushed the total deficit to about 1,000 positions compared to 2024 staffing levels, according to data from the Office of…
New York — When it comes to keeping nursing home workers around long enough to actually make a difference, two operators say the answer isn’t complicated — it just takes consistency, visibility, and treating every employee like they matter. Executives from Journey Healthcare and Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center recently shared the staffing strategies that have worked for their organizations, at a time when turnover continues to drain resources and erode care quality across the long-term care industry. Start with Communication — and Mean It At Journey, Chief Operating Officer Kaci Lingle said the foundation is making sure every…
BOISE, IDAHO — Low Medicaid reimbursement rates are quietly reshaping who gets into a nursing home — and who doesn’t. Across the country, skilled nursing facilities are growing more selective about which patients they admit. With state Medicaid payments failing to keep up with rising costs, many operators are limiting the number of Medicaid residents they accept, prioritizing higher-paying Medicare and privately insured patients instead. The result: hospital beds that can’t discharge patients, nursing home beds that sit empty, and communities with fewer options for senior care. 10% of New York’s Beds Are Closed to Admissions In New York —…
