The principals at three: living architecture maintain that one can incorporate hospitality design features at any phase of a senior living community’s life—from early planning through current status to future expansions. Their critical takeaway: One can never afford a dull community. Read More »
With increased government oversight and efforts to find inappropriately paid Medicare funds, facility staff may end a Medicare stay prematurely for fear of being audited and having their claim denied. What is the key to balancing provision of skilled care and avoiding auditor take-backs? Read More »
A low-premium, high-deductible health plan used to be viewed as "the single consumer's plan." Now, high-deductible plans are a favorite of employers, especially for large-group coverage. Read More »
Many changes are ahead for employers concerning employee health insurance benefits. Some of the rules will begin as early as this fall. Nancy Taylor, co-chair, Health & FDA Business Practice at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLC, discusses the key strategies employers should consider in preparing for compliance. Read More »
LTC providers are investing more heavily in short-term rehab as a way to recoup shrinking Medicare reimbursements while taking on higher-acuity cases in order to keep residents out of the hospital. Meanwhile, they are giving wellness amenities and programs higher priority as families evaluate facilities with a more discerning eye. Read More »
Many of our LTC residents are eating meals while sitting in their wheelchairs. How much do we "institutionalize" our residents by passively convincing them that sitting in the wheelchair in the dining room "is easier for everyone"? Time after time, we realize that our processes and philosophies have to be revisited and reiterated constantly. Read More »
A somber day in Kansas City, Mo.: A wandering senior is found dead and an entire nursing home is evacuated at two senior living facilities. Read More »
Three-week-old strike by unionized Connecticut nursing home workers continues. SNF operator alleges sabotage and vandalism by strikers. Company attorneys' seek criminal investigation by state authorities. Read More »
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ controversial Five-Star Quality Rating System, which rates the nation’s nursing homes, is in the news this week with CMS unveiling its revamped Nursing Home Compare website. Since its introduction in 2008, the rating system has been maligned by LTC providers for its perceived faults and omissions. Read More »
The new version of CMS' Nursing Home Compare website now includes data on readmission rates, nursing home inspections and antipsychotic drug use. Read More »
It was a large group of states with GOP governors whose challenge of the ACA led to the Supreme Court’s ruling, and many of them have either decided, or reportedly may decide, to forgo the additional federal payments that would come from expanding Medicaid eligibility in their states. Read More »
Renovating existing facilities entails much more than a new coat of paint. Miles Girouard and Amy Ruedinger, RN, discuss the strategies involved in upgrading the physical environment and the care culture at the same time. Read More »
GPO membership gives facilities a boost to their bottom lines as two GPO executives explain. From office supplies to clinical products to furniture and more, GPOs are the best deal in town. Read More »
Senior living designers have yet to recognize that boomers entering communities will demand the same resources in senior living just as they have upped the ante by demanding restaurant style dining, fitness centers, spas and coffee shops. Read More »
LeadingAge has started a financial and legal advice service for its not-for-profit members. Struggling facilities can request an assessment and receive advice from experts for free. Read More »
State reform to limit medical liability claims and facility-based arbitration agreements can have huge impacts on long-term care’s finances, notes a study by ACHA/NCAL and Aon Global Risk Consulting. Read More »
According to a recent study, one in every six admissions to nursing homes was for individuals who had a history of emphysema or COPD. This puts greater pressure on LTC facilities to gain a stronger understanding of the disease and to meet new demands in terms of assessment and treatment. Read More »
Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infections remain at historically high levels whereas most other types of healthcare-associated infections are declining. The CDC recommends that healthcare clinicians and facility administrators implement the following six prevention steps into their facilities’ infection control plan. Read More »
As of July 1, 89 new accountable care organizations (ACOs) began serving 1.2 million people with Medicare in 40 states and Washington, D.C., the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced today. Read More »
For most families, entry into a nursing home is like being teleported onto a strange new planet. The arrival is often swift and unanticipated, and the customs are foreign and frequently unnerving. Consider what services you can offer to improve the experience of anxious family members. Read More »
Last spring (May 2011), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published a report titled, "Medicare Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Claims for Elderly Nursing Home Residents." Here is what medical directors practicing in long-term care had to say about the appropriate prescribing of antipsychotic medications. Read More »
With the federal government’s escalating war on healthcare fraud and abuse, long-term care operators are on high alert in their efforts to be compliant in documentation and reporting. A leading educator pounds home the need for documentation and compliance. Read More »
On a hot day in the spring of 2011, a nurse said the building’s temperature could get hot in the summer, sometimes as high as 100 degrees. I remembered that on May days when my room was not cool. Even with a fan some evenings my thermometer read 87 degrees and I was perspiring profusely. Read More »
It’s been a week of high anxiety for the long-term care industry as anticipation builds for the U.S. Supreme Court’s impending decision on the fate of the Affordable Care Act, expected to come down before the end of the month. Read More »
A basic strategy you should use to grow qualified referrals is targeting physicians for referral development. Consider these recent successes by clients employing this strategy. Read More »
While not every prospective adverse event can be mapped out with anticipated responses and scenarios, there are steps owners and providers can take, especially in the first 24 hours after a serious event, to better protect residents, their families and employees. Read More »
Another bitter battle is brewing on Capitol Hill over how to prevent student loan interest rates from increasing from the current 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1, and believe it or not, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities may be asked to help pay the tab. Read More »
Nursing homes that foster an environment in which workers feel they are valued contributors to a team of caregivers provide better care to their residents, according to a new study. Read More »
With the growing use of electronic data in healthcare to improve quality of care and lower provider costs, more long-term care organizations are making the transition from paper medication administration records (MARs) to electronic medication administration records (eMARs). Read More »
With the Medicare/Medicaid cutbacks to facilities today, I wonder how facilities built from the ’70s through the ’90s will be maintained. I wonder too how the grand looking nursing homes built in the last 10 years will hold up. Read More »
