For the past quarter century, we have been keeping readers informed about the events shaping and changing the long-term care field. Here’s an intriguing year-by-year look at some of the major figures and developments we’ve covered.
1980
May/June: Today’s Nursing Home launches.
“With this issue, McKnight Medical Communications Inc. begins publication of the first newsmagazine to serve the 18,000 chief executives and key decision-makers in the nation’s 16,000 extended care facilities,” a front-page story notes.
Publisher William “Bill” McKnight promises a magazine that would identify trends early, report on innovative ideas, interpret events and present a broad perspective.
July/August: “Group Computerizes Nursing Home Data” headlines one of the first information technology-related articles to appear. The story covers a consumer’s group in the Detroit area that was selling printouts for $100. Among the available information: facility address, bed capacity, approvals and certifications, licensure status, violations and litigation involvement.
Think CE is new? Think again. The November/December issue notes “a variety of continuing education and in-service courses for administrators, nurses and dieticians are sprouting up across the country.”
1981
When Congress quietly passed the Boren Amendment, it was doing so in the hopes that states would have more flexibility in shaping Medicaid payments to providers. In fact, just the opposite occurs. Providers in more than half a dozen states eventually sue, successfully arguing that payments had to reflect adequate care instead of state fiscal woes.
In the January issue, providers weigh in on the effect that newly elected President Ronald Reagan would have on facilities. D. L. Rogge, an administrator at the Kirkland Convalescent Center, Kirkland, WA, offers an assessment that would be refuted seven years later by OBRA ’87: “The fact that Reagan’s opposed to government regulation means we can cut down on healthcare regulation and get back to providing better quality patient care without being put under the gun.”
In the March issue, a story notes that the House Aging Committee would consider improving long-term care through expanded educational opportunities, upgraded reimbursement rates and an image boost for nursing homes. The committee was later disbanded.
Also in the March issue, a story focuses on Europe’s alternatives to institutional care. “We can learn a few tips from our European friends who advocate alternatives to institutionalization,” the story notes.
The November issue reports that Rep. Claude Pepper (D-FL) would be launching an advice-to-the elderly column. Pepper would later chair a commission in his House Select Committee on Aging, which would lay out landmark changes for nursing home care in America.
1982
The January issue covers a General Accounting Office (now the General Accountability Office) report about potential homecare savings. “Home health care for the elderly can improve patient outcomes, but is not a panacea for the spiraling costs of long-term care,” the office notes.
The February issue reports “expenditures for nursing home care, pegged at $24.5 billion last year, will almost double by 1986 and more than triple by 1990.”
The March issue writes that Oregon had become “the first state to receive a waiver from the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) so that it can offer Medicaid-reimbursable home- and community–based services to eligible elderly at risk of institutionalization.”
The December issue notes that only three of the nation’s 126 medical schools have chairs in geriatric medicine.
1983
A May story deals with problems HCFA faced in putting together a Medicare prospective payment system. Among the sticking points: Flat rates, budget reviews, rate setting formulae and negotiated rates. Still, providers generally look forward to prospective payments, “agreeing that the approach should prompt greater cost efficiency.” When PPS is finally enacted four years later, the result is more than 1,500 facilities seeking creditor protection.
An August story notes that the Department of Health and Human Services would fund a study on nursing home regulati
