Fantastic study by David Grabowski & Amanda Chen questioning home health agencies self-reported care improvements and raising disturbing Qs about star ratings.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…

Fabulous accountability journalism from my colleagues!

Congratulations KFF Health News and Cox Media Group, who received the 2024 Goldsmith Awards’ inaugural Government Reporting Prize via Shorenstein Center for their joint reporting on Social Security overpayments in the 'Overpayment Outrage” series: bit.ly/4cCPmJb

'A sign of the times': CMS added two digits to the Medicare claims processing system for hospital and doctor office charges so that it can accommodate prices up to a penny shy of $100 million. statnews.com/2024/04/02/med… via STAT

'Excited delirium is a four-decade-old diagnostic theory that has been used to explain how a person experiencing severe agitation can suddenly die while being restrained.' kffhealthnews.org/MTgyNTI0NQ Renuka Rayasam -> @kffhealthnews

This good story by Harris Meyer -->

Concerns Grow Over Quality of Care as Investor Groups Buy Not-for-Profit Nursing Homes kffhealthnews.org/MTgyMzY5MA via @kffhealthnews

🚨New in Health Affairs led by Amanda Chen
The release of new CMS nursing home ownership data is a step forward, but we find major transparency gaps remain in the CMS data including identifying private equity & real estate investment trust deals.
healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.13…

In 2022, NY AG James alleged owners of a Long Island nursing home inappropriately pocketed $16M that could have been spent on residents. The AG just settled the case by requiring the owners to return less than $9M.
ag.ny.gov/press-release/…

Arizona A.G. successfully challeged a gag clause on arbitration involving an assisted living facility. Only applies to that facility.
azfamily.com/2024/02/27/ari…

Report for America, which funds of hundreds of local journalists, will no longer support positions at Gannett, Alden, or any newspapers owned by private equity or hedge funds because 'that business model isn’t the future for robust local news.' journal-isms.com/2024/03/j-grou…

Owners of shuttered St. Louis nursing home kept paying themselves $450k a year as finances tanked stltoday.com/news/local/bus… via St. Louis Post-Dispatch

I asked ChatGPT to design an infographic explaining how Medicare works. I don't think it's ready to put our KFF experts out of work. (I will say that Medicare has indeed gotten quite complicated, but not as incomprehensible as this infographic would suggest.)

Update: My layoff has been rescinded. Much appreciation to L.A. Times Guild 🦅