Yardi created the Yardi Senior Living Suite to encompass every element of senior housing management within a single platform, from sales, marketing and care management to payments, family communication and medication administration. The suite helps facility operators grow their occupancy, deliver quality care and lower total costs of ownership. A recent addition brings even more key operations into the suite. Yardi Skilled Nursing is a mobile solution that helps senior living staff members deliver care and document their actions more efficiently. Yardi Skilled Nursing saves time in resident assessment, charting and reporting by sending resident data from the point of care directly into a standardized patient health assessment repository known as the MDS. This streamlined documentation process lets staff members spend more time on resident care instead of entering and validating data. The solution also fortifies compliance by ensuring operators are current on frequently changing regulations and automatically checking for fatal errors, missed fields and inconsistencies. User logs, change reasons and up-to-date chart data establish a clear audit trail. Advanced reporting, clinical key performance indicators and financial measures enable full oversight of care services. Yardi Skilled Nursing also delivers value to senior living facility operators by: Reducing manual data entry errors with automatic pre-population of MDS with information from previous assessments Providing a user-friendly interface that helps lighten staff workloads and improve productivity Streamlining government reimbursements with simplified, error-free claims management Delivering full access to real-time clinical information for staff across the business “Staff members can devote their energies to resident care because all electronic point-of-care charting is readily available on any mobile device,” said Ray Elliott, vice president of senior living for Yardi. “That benefit combines with real-time availability of full service information to give facility operators the means to improve health outcomes,...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may soon change the way that payments are allotted. The organization hopes that the new payment structure will reflect its renewed commitment to quality care. Rewarding Performance In the past, facilities received payments based on the total cost of care provided. The new case-mix CMS model directs Medicare payments to facilities based on the patient’s condition and treatment. A recent proposal could increase payments to skilled nursing facilities (SNF) by $887 million in fiscal year 2020. That’s about a 2.5 percent increase from the current fiscal year. Not all SNFs will receive the increased payments. Facilities must meet a list of requirements to receive the funds. If facilities fail to meet the new requirements, payments will be reduced by 2 percentage points. About 60 percent of the funds withheld from under performing SNFs will be upcycled as incentive payments. The caveat, however, is that under performing SNFs will be expected to improve quality of care with fewer resources. Additional Payment Increases Other areas of care may receive a noticeable uptick in payments. CMS has announced that it plans to increase payments to inpatient rehab facilities (IRF) by $195 million for federal fiscal 2020. Hospice payments may get a $540 million increase in payments, which is roughly a 3 percent boost. Like SNFs, hospice providers will be evaluated based on the services provided to patients. High-performing centers will receive the increase whereas under performing centers will get a 2-percentage point cut. Influencing Change There is still time to influence legislation. CMS encourages industry feedback on proposed rule [CMS-1718-P]. The organization will accept comments until June 18, 2019. The final proposed changes will take effect in October...