Healthcare associations appeal to Congress to keep the therapy cap off the calendar for another year, as the clock ticks toward the December 31 Congressional deadline. Read More »
Creating a detailed emergency response plan—and keeping it updated—is crucial to safeguarding your organization’s residents, staff and property. These disaster planning checklists can help you manage risk and keep your staff ready for anything. Read More »
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is continuing its aggressive efforts to identify fraud among healthcare providers. In October, the OIG released its 2013 work plan, which outlines the audit and enforcement initiatives for Medicare and Medicaid providers in the coming year. Let's take a look at the Nursing Homes section of the work plan. Read More »
One of long-term care's largest skilled nursing companies just got bigger, as Pennsylvania-based Genesis HealthCare adds to its service lines in a $215 million deal. Read More »
Speaker of the House John Boehner delivered a new proposal to solve the budget crisis this afternoon-- including billions in healthcare cuts. Read More »
A Nashville hospice care provider has become the first hospice organization in the country to publicize its care quality data, raising the bar for others in the palliative care industry. Read More »
Flu season demands greater attention to cleaning. “High-touch” surfaces require particularly close attention. Daily housekeeping in LTC facilities should include not only obvious reservoirs of micro-organisms such bathrooms and linens, but all horizontal and high-touch surfaces outside resident rooms and other care areas. Read More »
Important victories can be achieved when a resident is encouraged and enabled to use his or her abilities to achieve a personal goal through support and training. Read More »
According to news reports on Nov. 28 and 29, President Barack Obama has proposed cutting $340 billion from Medicare spending over 10 years, in his fiscal year 2013 budget, as part of his initial bargaining stance with Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner (R-OH) and congressional Republicans, during the so-called “fiscal cliff” negotiations. Read More »
The elderly can benefit from the “use it or lose it” tenet of good geriatric practice, which encourages them to make choices from among meaningful alternatives. This practice requires no special technology because it’s what we do countless times every day. Read More »
The status quo never inspired innovation. Dr. Tellis-Nayak, a medical sociologist and Senior Research Advisor at the National Research Corporation, explains why improving long-term care means being willing to look beyond "the way things are" and considering the way things could be. Read More »
The No. 1 factor impacting health status in residents with Parkinson’s disease isn’t the shakes and the loss of muscle control—it’s the depression. Read More »
I challenge LTC providers to think of creative ways to develop solid and meaningful relationships with their community’s first responders and providers of other essential services that will be mutually beneficial in good times as well as bad times. Read More »
In the wake of federal reports of rampant fraudulence Medicare billing, the letters begin arriving at hospitals and other healthcare sites: Medicare wants its money back. Read More »
President Barack Obama’s reelection ensured that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be fully implemented and your organization needs to be prepared for its potential impact on your facility or service. Here are some important aspects of the law you must consider when making strategic and tactical decisions that will impact the marketing of your services. Read More »
Being vitamin D deficient surprises me, since I have never been told I was deficient in the past. But I am a breast cancer survivor and know that chemotherapy can cause physical changes. Read More »
One way to enhance the brain’s “little gray cells” and to stave off the effects of Parkinson’s and dementia may be pedaling that bicycle, note researchers presenting at RSNA, the world’s largest radiology conference. Read More »
With the recent focus on reducing antipsychotics in long-term care and substituting behavioral interventions, facilities may be left wondering what interventions to use and how to implement them. Here are ideas on how to prevent, investigate and monitor agitation on your units and address staffing needs to ease the transition from antipsychotic medication. Read More »
Still think the majority of residents at skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are grannies? Not anymore. Check out the fastest-growing demographic in today’s LTC market. Read More »
Michigan has made a commitment to culture change. PHI serves as the convener for this multi-stakeholder group that includes resident advocates, provider associations, government agencies, culture change advocates and employee organizations. Read More »
The release of today's proposed rules brings the Department of Health & Human Services a few steps closer in building the rules for state health exchanges (HIX). Read More »
The risks of cognitive decline in seniors may be up in the air—literally, according to a study on the surprising effects of air pollution on brain functions. Read More »
The latest version of the Nursing Home Inspect tool includes more ways to search nursing home survey data and to assess the historial track record of a skilled nursing facility. Read More »
The Wall Street Journal reported that the OIG is using the term “Operation Vacuum Cleaner” to refer to its review of nursing home billing issues. This term is perhaps even more foreboding than the report itself. With the fiscal cliff looming and sharp negotiations set to begin over the future of Medicare reimbursement, the timing and substance of this report are less than ideal for an industry already under fire. Read More »
The long-term care industry, concerned about the impact of potentially devastating “fiscal cliff” federal funding cuts, has launched a broad offensive in hopes of convincing Congress and President Obama to reach a deal that will prevent those reductions from being imposed. Read More »
Today was to be decision day for states on whether they intend to participate in the new state health exchange program, but an eleventh-hour extension from Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius gives the remaining eight states another few weeks to decide. Read More »
The Office of Inspector General continues to unearth massive misreporting and over-billing in nursing home claims, especially where therapy is involved. Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living is considering several financial options to refit its operations in an era of Medicare reductions, announced Brookdale's CFO and co-president Mark Ohlendorf today at the Stephens Fall Investment Conference. Read More »
Nursing home and assisted living operators are seeing a marked increase in “piercing the corporate veil” theories and corporate negligence claims in malpractice litigation. The good news is facilities can and should employ strategies that can help insulate them from these claims. Read More »
