The NYACHCA convention is back! And the nursing home industry is on the comeback trail, too!

After what seemed like an eternity, skilled nursing facility operators, administrators, and service providers gathered in person. The Resorts World Catskills served as host for the 51^st Annual NY American College of Healthcare Administrators convention.

A great crowd of over 200 skilled nursing facility representatives plus even more solution providers came together to renew friendships, learn, and share stories of the past 16 months marred by the Covid pandemic. 

The New York Chapter of the ACHCA put together an outstanding lineup of speakers to help educate and energize the audience of healthcare leaders looking to lead their organizations down the road to recovery.

Among the topics most frequently discussed were:

1. Will the 3-day qualifying stay requirement come to an end? – Momentum to retire the regulation for the 3-day qualifying hospital stay for SNF admissions under Part A appears to be real.  Will it happen for FY 2022?  Many SNF operators see this as part of the solution to industry-wide census woes.
2. Changes to NYS Case-mix reimbursement – NYS DOH appears to be ready to implement a new Case-mix methodology for Medicaid reimbursement. Operators now have some clear direction from DOH, yet NYS SNFs still face the largest per diem reimbursement deficit in the country.
3. Impending Ownership Changes – While it appears the worst of the pandemic is behind us, many industry experts feel that a significant wave of ownership changes is coming.  Interested buyers are expressing interest while bed prices continue to rise.
4. Rebuilding Census – Most Administrators shared stories of lingering census issues at their buildings. Collectively, the industry is working very hard to rebuild low census and regain lost revenue.
5. Staffing Challenges – Virtually every SNF is in desperate need of staff. Unfortunately, staffing will remain a problem for some time.
6. PDPM – Since PDPM reimbursement has been higher than anticipated, expect the government to scrutinize PDPM reimbursement. The 1135 waiver and medical diagnosis coding could be easy targets for auditors.

The feeling of rejuvenation and optimism was fun to be part of.  Skilled Nursing Facilities deal with adversity, enormous amounts of negative scrutiny & government regulations, and massive reimbursement shortfalls.   The Covid-19 pandemic has left many scars, however, the resiliency amongst skilled nursing facilities & their leaders is truly amazing.

Language Fundamentals is proud to be part of this amazing group and here to be part of the solution by providing speech therapy for SNFs and helping SNF operators improve patient satisfaction.