Do you know what nursing facilities' obligations are when it comes to reporting and investigating claims of abuse or neglect? The Office of Inspector General has new recommendations to help ensure that you do. Read More »
What’s for dinner? Are you planning and serving residents meals that are in line with the new dining standards? A new toolkit helps to implement these requirements. Read More »
It’s nearing that time of the year again when it's important to review your residents’ history of vaccinations and to schedule the various inoculations, including pneumonia, that will protect them from infections in the coming months. Read More »
Lawmakers push the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to ease long-term care (LTC) red tape for military vets to obtain healthcare services. But what are the prospects for accessibility to LTC services? Read More »
Making use of newer guidance and data from the government, as well as improving communication with other entities and perfecting a person-centered approach to care, should be priorities for clinical and operational leaders in long-term care, according to the executive director of an educational foundation and consultancy. Read More »
A Kentucky registry will enable long-term care employers to view a list of people who have records of substantiated maltreatment of adults who were in their care. Read More »
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved an inhalation spray, olodaterol, to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Read More »
New federal guidance outlines the responsibilities and actions a facility needs to take when it suspects a resident is a victim of a financial crime. Read More »
QAPI expert Nell Griffin, LPN, EdM, offers valuable resources and advice on establishing performance improvement projects to remedy problems in care practices. Read More »
Current Medicare requirements challenge home healthcare, but a new initiative is identifying infrastructure, workforce, research, technology and policy needs to facilitate change. Read More »
Legal scholars and human rights advocates have released a proposal that aims to legally protect older adults under international human rights law. Read More »
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services have announced an Elder Justice Roadmap "for tackling the highest priority challenges to elder abuse prevention and prosecution." Read More »
Identifying problem areas, establishing goals, selecting committees and accessing data to enhance quality are components that determine whether a facility should charter a performance improvement committee. Read More »
Payments to home health agencies would decrease by 0.3 percent in fiscal year 2015 under changes to the Medicare prospective payment system proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS will accept comments on the proposal until Sept. 2. Read More »
Fifteen skilled nursing facilities or nursing facilities have joined the latest Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services list of poor survey performers. Read More »
Long-term acute care hospitals, freestanding inpatient rehabilitation facilities, hospices, partial hospitalization programs and some skilled nursing facilities can now access their Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Reports electronically. Read More »
The Long-Term and Post-Acute Care Health IT Collaborative is putting the final touches on its 2014-2016 Roadmap for technology adoption in the long-term/post-acute industry this week, and it's about a lot more than electronic medical records. Read More »
Now that your facility's QAPI plan has been developed and leadership and staff are on board, it's time to put the plan into practice in the constant mission to improve and enhance quality care. Read More »
We’ve passed the midpoint of the continuing series on Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI). Now it’s time to collect and analyze data to improve person-centered care. Read More »
Massachusetts’ implementation of a “medical marijuana law,” and how it applies to assisted living facilities and skilled nursing facilities, is, of course, of special interest to providers in that state, but it may hold lessons for senior living communities elsewhere as well. Read More »
President Barack Obama has announced nominations for the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and one organization representing aging-services providers is commenting on the decisions. Read More »
A state survey is an important facet of ensuring that residents receive quality care, yet it always creates a sense of dread for administrators and staff. Residents know instinctively when their home is being inspected. Read More »
A six-city effort has resulted in charges against 90 people for their alleged participation in Medicare fraud schemes involving what the government says is approximately $260 million in false billings. Read More »
