Nursing facilities

On November 15, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that will implement portions of section 6101 of the Affordable Care Act, requiring the disclosure of certain ownership, managerial, and other information regarding Medicare skilled nursing facilities and Medicaid nursing facilities, commonly known as nursing homes. It also defines the terms private equity company and real estate investment trust, about which information must be disclosed on the Medicare enrollment application. Section 6101(a) of the Affordable Care Act added section 1124(c) to the Social Security Act, establishing requirements for the disclosure of information about nursing home ownership and oversight...

A recent report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services used Medicare data to identifiy certain characteristics or risk factors that placed nursing home residents at an increased risk of discharge. Characteristics included residents with severe behavioral symptoms, residents with psychiatric and mood disorders, residents with impairments that required more staff time, residents transitioning to Medicaid.