Nursing homes hope to 'fend off' deep Medicare cuts with new approach

The Hill: Nursing Home Industry Proposes Alternative To Funding Cuts
The nursing home industry is attempting to fend off deep Medicare cuts by proposing its own ideas on ways to reduce out-of-control Medicare spending. The proposal comes as lawmakers are considering billions of dollars in cuts to the healthcare industry to pay for a temporary postponement of physician payment cuts scheduled for March 1. Instead of taking a $2 billion hit through the elimination of so-called "bad debt," the American Health Care Association is proposing to save at least that much money by making sure patients discharged from the hospital stay healthy (Pecquet, 1/30).