Facility management

Vacuuming protects indoor air quality

Are your hard-surface floors making you—and your residents—sick? Brush up on these current best practices for cleanliness and maintenance with January's Focus On. Read More »

Reflections on a life in long-term care

Long-Term Living contributor Eli Pick’s account of a life in long-term care offers valuable insights and lessons learned from failures and successes along the way. "This was very difficult for me in the beginning," he writes. Read More »

In the long-term care resident’s shoes—or wheelchair

To experience just one of the many challenges a LTC resident experiences on a daily basis can be sobering and eye-opening. And, it just might make you reconsider your facility's approach to resident care. Read More »

How to leverage word of mouth in senior living

For senior living communities, social media is a “brand” new world adding a new dimension to the marketing mix and a “brave” new world for communities to share their stories. Read More »

HHS rule on electronic funds transfers in healthcare to save $4.5 billion

New standards build upon regulations published earlier this year that set industry-wide standards for how health providers use electronic systems to determine a patient’s eligibility for health coverage and check on the status of a health claim. Read More »

Remembering Alzheimer’s

Job’s Way is Kirby Pines Retirement Community's award-winning Alzheimer’s and dementia residence—winner of more than six national and international awards. The unique circular facility is designed to minimize confusion and frustration as residents move about during their daily activities. Read More »

A provider’s journey to adopt HIT

Golden Living transitioned its corporate-wide information technology from multiple, disparate silos into a unified, easily accessed and intuitive new platform. Here’s how they did it. Read More »

NLRB final rule accelerates union elections

Providers contend final rule will shorten the time employees may learn about union membership before an election, grant the NLRB latitude to decide election issues and limit an employer’s ability to appeal initial election hearing findings. Read More »

NCPA: Changes to LTC pharmacy consultants ‘jeopardize rural healthcare’

CMS has proposed changes to LTC pharmacy consultants that the NCPA says could imperil independent community pharmacies. Read More »

Navigator to form biggest long-term care GPO after Extendicare acquisition

Navigator agrees to $56 million acquisition of UHF Purchasing Services and Star Purchasing Services, LLC. Read More »

5 holiday life safety tips you might have overlooked

Please, for the love of your residents, staff and all visitors, employ some common sense this holiday season. Read More »

4 steps to overcoming a negative reputation

First, you must understand the nature of reputations and how they develop. Negative reputations can happen catastrophically or gradually over an extended period of time. Read More »

What to do with sex offenders in long-term care?

One of the first stories I tackled when joining Long-Term Living three years ago was a Q&A interview with patient care advocate Wes Bledsoe, who at Read More »

Foresight vs. hindsight: Interesting perspectives for those in senior living

As an architect and designer, I am encouraged to gather input from clients as we begin the planning and design process. In the senior living world, Read More »

The bumpy journey to adopt HIT

Tiankai Wang, PhD Health information technology (HIT) is not a new concept to the long-term care industry. Since the late 1990s, HIT functions Read More »

Nurse delegation in LTC and assisted living

Nurses in today's LTC and assisted living settings act in a variety of roles, both clinical and nonclinical. Nurses assist with or administer Read More »

Results of ‘Coaching Approach’ project show improved jobs, care

In 2006, PHI launched the Center for Coaching Supervision and Leadership. Funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Atlantic Philanthropies, Read More »

A family in crisis needs compassion, direction and resources

I was witness yesterday to the turmoil, frustration and confusion that countless families experience when faced with the crisis of an elder parent’s Read More »

Home health billing practices under fire from multiple flanks

Three recent developments indicate sharp scrutiny being placed on the home health industry. Stemming from Congress, the courts and the Office of Read More »

A team approach to reducing unnecessary hospitalizations

Skilled nursing facilities often get criticized for their less-than-stellar performance when it comes to resident hospitalizations. Hospitalization Read More »

Thanking staff throughout the year

A staff picnic at Garden Spot Village. Being recognized for a job well done is a keystone of maintaining a cooperative and cohesive Read More »

Employee satisfaction: A critical factor in the business of caregiving

It is difficult to place a dollar amount on the far-reaching impacts of employee satisfaction on the health of any long-term care provider Read More »

Set a wellness example for your staff, residents

I fear I may have become one of those annoying people who proselytize the benefits of exercise and staying in shape—but I wasn’t always this way. As Read More »

AHCA/NCAL conference report: Medicaid crisis demands provider action

Medicaid is in transition—many would say crisis—and skilled nursing providers attending a panel discussion Monday at the 62nd Annual AHCA/NCAL Read More »

In light of survey, another DON bites the dust—or not!

The cars pull into our parking lot. The alert siren sounds throughout the building. Survey is here. I dread these few days out of each year, but Read More »

The mystery of the disappearing resident room (and the lost census)

In complex mysteries you may have more than one party that is responsible for missing rooms in a senior living community. The worst crime scene I Read More »

The 4 elements of a strategic marketing plan

A blog is not enough space to do justice to the creation of a strategic marketing plan. However, I’m confident that I can give you a good overview of Read More »

Help your nurses achieve a balance

Balancing work and life—what is that, anyways? This is often defined as a state of equilibrium in which the demands of both a person’s job and Read More »

Using the MDS 3.0 to promote culture change

My great-grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's disease. I say she suffered because she was what was referred to as a “yeller,” often calling out and Read More »

The IDT in care planning

Judah L. Ronch, PhD In a recent draft report on the work of The Food and Dining Clinical Standards Task Force, (convened by the Pioneer Network Read More »