Norris Cunningham

What is Washington’s payroll tax for long-term care going to mean for the state’s Medicaid program and are other states expected to follow?

Q: I‘ve read that increased staffing levels for registered nurses are positively associated with a higher quality of care in skilled nursing facilities. So why is there such resistance to requiring nursing...

There is little doubt that leaders at Life Care Centers of America breathed a huge sigh of relief, as did the entire skilled nursing industry, when a federal jury found that Life Care Center of Kirkland,...

I understand that state surveyors will begin focusing more on emergency preparedness. Why so much attention on this issue now?

Q: The use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes is already a publicly reported quality measure. Are we headed toward even more scrutiny? A: Yes, more scrutiny is coming. In February, the Department...

Q: CMS has a new policy of publishing citations against nursing homes during appeals. Why would they include non-final citations?

I heard that the Office of Inspector General’s Work Plan for 2023 includes a CMS audit of Medicaid nursing facility use of funds related to direct patient care. Should I be concerned?

Long-term care facilities and providers should brace themselves for what may be an uptick in enforcement activity from Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCUs) in the coming year. In 2023, the U.S. Department...

Doesn’t the lifting of nurse aide training waivers put facilities back to square one in their efforts to overcome serious staffing issues?

A host of lawsuits over the past two years involve nursing homes where patients or their estates allege that patients contracted COVID-19 due to the facilities’ negligence or failure to properly act.  ...