Latest News On Nursing Homes

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Residencias de adultos mayores quedan a oscuras en la lucha contra los incendios forestales

KFF Health News Original

A medida que se generalizan los cortes de electricidad preventivos, las residencias de adultos mayores se ven obligadas a evaluar cómo prepararse. Pero no debería depender sólo de las residencias, según autoridades del sector y académicos.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Nursing Home Staffing Rules Prompt Pushback

Podcast

The nursing home industry — as well as a healthy number of Congress members — are all pushing back on the Biden administration’s new rules on nursing home staffing. Industry officials say that there are not enough workers to meet the requirements and that the costs would be prohibitive. Meanwhile, Democrats on Capitol Hill are trying to force Republicans to explain their exact positions on assuring access to contraceptives and in vitro fertilization. Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Bram Sable-Smith, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about a free cruise that turned out to be anything but.

New Help for Dealing With Aggression in People With Dementia

KFF Health News Original

A sedative shouldn’t be the first thing tried to help people with dementia who exhibit distressing behaviors. A new website is a comprehensive, free resource that offers guidance to caregivers.

Nursing Homes Wield Pandemic Immunity Laws To Duck Wrongful Death Suits

KFF Health News Original

More than 172,000 nursing home residents died of covid. In lawsuits, some families who lost loved ones say they were misled about safety measures or told that covid wasn’t a danger in their facilities.

Biden’s Nursing Home Staffing Rule Surfaces Horror Stories

KFF Health News Original

The Biden administration’s plan to set minimum staffing levels for nursing homes prompted comments from more than 46,500 people and organizations — including residents of homes and nurses with harrowing stories about conditions inside. Hundreds of comments like these cemented the resolve of officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last month to […]

Biden Administration Sets Higher Staffing Mandates. Most Nursing Homes Don’t Meet Them.

KFF Health News Original

The staffing regulation was disparaged by the industry as unattainable. Patient advocates say it doesn’t go far enough. Labor unions welcomed the requirement.

Concerns Grow Over Quality of Care as Investor Groups Buy Not-for-Profit Nursing Homes

KFF Health News Original

For-profit groups own more than 70% of U.S. nursing homes. Industry leaders and researchers wonder whether corporations and investors can succeed where not-for-profit organizations have struggled. Or, will quality of care suffer in the name of making money?

New Eligibility Rules Are a Financial Salve for Nearly 2 Million on Medi-Cal

KFF Health News Original

Nearly 2 million Medi-Cal enrollees, mainly people who are aged, disabled, or in long-term care, can now accumulate savings and property without limitations and still qualify for the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents. They join an additional roughly 12 million enrollees who already had no asset limits.

What’s Indoor Air Quality Like in Long-Term Care Facilities During Wildfires? Worse Than You’d Think.

KFF Health News Original

As climate change-driven wildfires increasingly choke large parts of the United States with smoke each summer, new research shows residents in long-term care facilities are being exposed to dangerously poor air, even those who don’t set foot outside during smoke events.

Rift Over When to Use N95s Puts Health Workers at Risk Again

KFF Health News Original

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering fuzzy guidelines on infection control in hospitals, critics say, leaving employers free to cut corners on N95 masks and other protective measures.

Nursing Homes Say They Can’t Afford Higher Staffing. But Their Finances Are Often Opaque.

KFF Health News Original

Perhaps the biggest mystery, as the Biden administration moves to force nursing homes to boost staffing, is this: how much extra money do the nation’s 15,000 homes actually have to hire and retain more nurses and aides? Public comments are due Monday on the most sweeping regulatory changes to hit the industry in decades. The […]

Feds Rein In Use of Predictive Software That Limits Care for Medicare Advantage Patients

KFF Health News Original

Software sifts through millions of medical records to match patients with similar diagnoses and characteristics and then predicts what kind of care an individual will need and for how long. New federal rules will ensure human experts are part of the process.

As Covid Infections Rise, Nursing Homes Are Still Waiting for Vaccines

KFF Health News Original

“People want covid-19 to be in the rearview mirror,” one nursing home official says. Faced with a slow rollout of the updated covid vaccines, and without state mandates for workers to get vaccinated, most skilled nursing facilities are relying on persuasion to boost vaccination rates among staff and residents.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Welcome Back, Congress. Now Get to Work. 

Podcast

Congress returns from its summer recess with a long list of tasks and only a few work days to get them done. On top of the annual spending bills needed to keep the government operating, on the list are bills to renew the global HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR, and the community health centers program. Meanwhile, over the recess, the Biden administration released the names of the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare price negotiation program.

Biden Administration Proposes New Standards to Boost Nursing Home Staffing

KFF Health News Original

The proposal would require major hiring at the most sparsely staffed homes. But the proposal is already badly received by the nursing home industry, which claims it can’t boost wages enough to attract workers.