Administration

Preparing for the ‘silver tsunami’ across the globe

The United States isn’t the only country experiencing explosive growth within the senior demographic. As the elderly population and the costs of senior care rise across the globe, other countries are weighing the U.S. long-term care experience. How will they handle the need for expanded senior services? Read More »

Preparing for the ‘silver tsunami’ across the globe

The United States isn’t the only country experiencing explosive growth within the senior demographic. As the elderly population and the costs of senior care rise across the globe, other countries are weighing the U.S. long-term care experience. Read More »

John Gilligan, RN, receives 2012 Joan Ann McHugh Award for Leadership in Long-term Care Nursing

And the long-term care leaderships award goes to… John Gilligan, RN, of Pensylvania’s Sunshine Gardens memory unit! Read More »

Chew on this: Dental health and senior dementia may be related

A longitudinal study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has linked poor dental care to higher dementia rates among seniors. The number of teeth, quality of oral health and frequency of dental exams could all be influences on later dementia, researchers say. Read More »

NIC National Conference: Lenders poised to deal with quality operators

Senior housing developers and lenders are engaging this week in the delicate art of the deal at the 22nd NIC (National Investment Center) National Conference. This year’s mood is decidedly less gloomy than in recent years and even, observers suggest, cautiously optimistic. Read More »

Seniors need behavioral health services tailored to age, ethnicity

For senior mental health outreach, one size does not fit all. Programs designed to engage seniors within their specific spaces and cultures have the highest success, say behavioral health experts. Are you reaching out across the diversity within your communities? Read More »

Financial swindlers of elderly often involve family members

When seniors suffer financial abuse, authorities need only look as far as the family, experts say. Read More »

One-on-one with… Dianne Timmering

Long-Term Living talks with Dianne Timmering, vice president of spirituality at Signature HealthCARE, about how Signature has revamped its corporate culture and employee retention strategy while providing spiritual support for its residents. Read More »

Disaster Recovery Requires Pre-Planning

Planning for the unexpected means forming a clear plan of action and knowing who to call when disaster strikes. Read More »

Congress introduces Medicare transitions of care legislation

A bipartisan Congressional group introduces the Medicare Transitional Care Act of 2012, moving ahead to formalize reimbursement for care transitions. Read More »

LTC industry launches campaign to fight budget cuts

The long-term care industry has launched a campaign to oppose "devastating" sequestration cuts. An AHCA ad campaign came less than a week after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a report detailing how federal agencies would implement the $110 billion in mandatory, across-the-board budget cuts for 2013. Read More »

Nursing care occupancy continues slow decline

Nursing care occupancy continued its slow decline, which is a trend that has been in place since 2007, reports NIC MAP. During the second quarter of 2012, nursing care occupancy was 87.9 percent, which was a 30 basis point decline from the prior quarter and 40 basis points lower than a year ago. Read More »

Implementing family-style dining

There are many ways to bring food to the table. Family-style dining encourages socialization, better nutritional intake and an improved quality of life for residents. Get staff on board to make this mealtime method a success. Read More »

OMB: Medicare providers could see $11 billion in reduced payments in 2013

Medicare providers could be facing a $11 billion reduction in reimbursements if the government's sequestration process goes forward, according to an OMB report released today. Read More »

How LGBT-friendly is your LTC community?

As the baby boomer generation ages, long-term care is seeing an emergence of care facilities and policies that are designed to bring care equity to residents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. How have you taken proactive steps to make sure your caregivers are educated in cultural acceptance? Read More »

Largest ACO model project sees significant savings among dual-eligibles

Five years of data from Center for Medicare & Medicaid’s largest experiment in performance-based reimbursement are mixed, but physician groups succeeded in slashing the costs for dual-eligibles. Read More »

Seniors with hearing loss have higher dementia rates

Want to help reduce your chance of developing Alzheimer’s? Get your ears checked, researchers say. Read More »

5 measurable quality initiatives form core of CMS Action Plan

As nursing homes compete in the post-reform environment for new direct patient admissions and more hospital discharges, several data driven tools—from Five Star rankings to hospital readmission benchmarks—that form the core of CMS’ focus on quality will be critical to nursing homes’ success. Read More »

Incident reports, surveys and privilege: Protecting QA material from enforcement action

Skilled nursing facilities should carefully consider what constitutes legitimate quality assurance or otherwise privileged documents and how best to protect those documents. Read More »

2012 OPTIMA Award winner: St. Leonard Franciscan Living Community, Centerville, Ohio

Since 1996, Long-Term Living has honored long-term care communities that are proactive with programs that go “above and beyond” routine care for their residents with our prestigious OPTIMA Award. It is conferred by a jury of LTC peers from submitted entries. This year’s winner is St. Leonard Franciscan Living Community of Centerville, Ohio. Congratulations! Read More »

UTI payment study reveals big holes in datasets used for performance measures

What started out as a comparative analysis on reimbursement rates related to catheter-based urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) has opened a huge can of worms concerning hospital datasets and their reliability as performance measurements. Read More »

Dementia denial: The secretive obstacle to intervention

Dementia treatments and memory care regimens have come a long way—if we can first get past the biggest initial obstacle: Patient-centric denial. Read More »

California passes bill restricting emergency room charges for out-of-network patients

California legislature has passed a bill limiting what emergency departments can charge out-of-network payers. Will other states follow? Read More »

Care during last five years of life could cost $38-66k or more, study says

The last five years of life can cost a bundle, even with Medicare coverage, reveals a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Read More »

Floor cleaning day Part 2

I was concerned about my floor being stripped and waxed because it upsets my routine. Since I wanted things to run smoothly, I had my driver, Debra, come at 8 a.m. on Thursday to help the maintenance guys move things. That way I knew I would have some idea where things were put. Read More »

Art Modell leaves hospice legacy in Cleveland

The late Art Modell, longtime NFL franchise owner, may still stir up feelings in the Cleveland sports scene, but the hospice legacy he leaves behind is one of serenity amid nontraditional end-of-life care. Read More »

IOM report: Healthcare must behave more like a business, reward quality and learn from data

In a milestone report released today, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) analyzes why the U.S. healthcare system needs a new business-based attitude, and why it struggles to learn from its own data. Read More »

5 tips to prepare for QAPI

Mandating that nursing home providers institute both a formal, facility-wide compliance and quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) program while enhancing nurse aide training across their facilities, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aims to elevate the quality of care in America’s nursing homes over the next few years. Read More »

Do you have a waiting list?

Senior living providers often discuss occupancy rates. They live or die by rates and the mix that is tied to them in order to make the proforma work. What If we changed the discussion from "What is your occupancy rate?" to "Do you have a waiting list?" The discussion becomes less about percentages and more about the customer experience. Read More »

Evangelical Lutheran tops annual nonprofit operators list

Following the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society in the top five list of operators are the National Senior Campuses in Maryland, the ACTS Retirement Life Communities, Inc. in Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Homes and Services in Minnesota and Covenant Retirement Communities in Illinois. Read More »