The Senate has confirmed Marilyn Tavenner as the new director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The Senate Finance Committee opened hearings Tuesday on the Medicare “doc fix.”

Senators on Thursday will mark up legislation that could overhaul the nation’s immigration system. Long term care providers, like many of the nation’s businesses, have gotten behind legislation sponsored by the so-called “Gang of Eight” senators that would expand skilled visas and—at least, potentially—allow illegal immigrants to change their status.

Providers must provide written warning to Medicare patients that their treatment may not be covered before treatment can begin, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has said in a memorandum.

Long term care providers have slashed their use of antipsychotic medications by nearly 6 percent, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) is expected to announce Monday. For AHCA members, the off-label use of antipsychotics fell by nearly 7 percent, the association will say Monday in a conference call with media.

Medicare spending will not have to be cut this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has announced.

Medicare payments to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) could increase by $500 million next year under new rules proposed Wednesday by the Obama Administration.

Researchers hosted intense focus groups and workshops with doctors and other staff in two Brookdale Senior Living homes in Florida. The training targeted patients who were early into their transitions into the homes, the group that many consider to be most vulnerable to health problems in long term care, Boyle wrote for his associates. The results were dramatic.

Joining up with a wide swath of small- and medium-sized business interests, the American Health Care Association has urged Congress to expand expert visas and to rethink some of the restrictions that operators say prevents willing immigrants from joining the ranks of the nation’s caretakers.

Long term care advocates are passing the hat for stricken member facilities in Texas and Massachusetts after separate horrors descended upon them.

The ER return rate may be even higher because researchers only examined a single “safety-net” hospital in Boston, the researchers announced in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Long term care costs continued their steady climb upward in 2012, with adult day care and assisted living costs leading the pack, Genworth Financial says in its annual survey.

Federal law has required the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to hire contractors to audit all therapy claims above $3,700. For providers in 11 states—California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas—those audits will take place before payments are released.

Researchers found that people who had low contact with others were more likely to die than those who reported feeling lonely but had higher contact with others.

Dementia will cost some $203 billion in health and long term care costs in 2013, the Alzheimer’s Association reports.

​“In Touch With iPads,” written by Nicole Francis for the November 2012 issue of Provider magazine, was honored recently as Best Senior Technology Article for the 2013 ALTY Awards, an annual event of Assisted Living Today’s website.

The American Health Care Association is calling for Congress to waive caps on guest workers and, specifically, expand H-1B visas, a program designed to bring in skilled workers from overseas.

​Long term care advocates in Florida are getting behind a bill that would allow stricken patients to use their life insurance policies to help pay for their care.

The American Health Care Association on Thursday pushed back against a report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General that accused long term care professionals of sloppy care planning.

Meet Joyce Simard, founder of Namaste Care, geriatric consultant, author, and one of this year's 20 To Watch honorees.

What are the most pressing issues facing the profession today? Gov. Mark Parkinson, AHCA president and CEO, draws upon his experience as both a long term care owner/operator, and as a former policymaker, to answer this question with clarity and candor.

Pruitt, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of UHS-Pruitt, is a veteran of long term care and one of the profession’s most respected leaders. He serves as chairman of the American Health Care Association Board of Governors and was the choice of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to serve on the commission.