Empowering nurse practitioners could reduce hospitalizations from SNFs, study finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 29, 2014
Granting more authority to nurse practitioners is associated with reduced hospitalization of skilled nursing facility residents, according to recently published findings.
Pioneer ACO drops out of program, despite reductions in skilled nursing utilization
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 29, 2014
A California healthcare system has become the latest dropout from the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization program, despite reducing skilled nursing facility utilization and improving its readmission...
Congressman requests briefing on nursing home five-star rating system
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 28, 2014
A leader in Congress has called for an evaluation of the nursing home five-star rating system in light of a recent New York Times article. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) requested that Centers for Medicare...
CMS: Discharge assessments must be completed when residents transfer to a non-certified bed within the...
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 28, 2014
Skilled nursing facilities must complete a discharge assessment when a resident is transferred from a certified to a non-certified bed, even if both beds are in the same building, the Centers for Medicare...
Focusing on a single word might improve nursing home residents’ quality of life
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 28, 2014
An affordable, easily implemented relaxation technique could improve nursing home residents’ psychological well-being. It also could potentially boost their immune systems, according to recently...
CMS needs to get nursing home staffing information directly from payroll systems, Congressional leaders...
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 27, 2014
Federal regulators should start collecting nursing home staffing information directly from payroll systems as soon as possible, members of the Congressional Seniors Task Force said in a letter to a top...
Male CNA who wears women’s clothing can pursue charges that nursing home defamed him
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 27, 2014
A Texas certified nursing assistant can continue to pursue charges that his former nursing home employer has made false, defamatory statements about him in the job referral process, a federal court recently...
High-profile consumer advocacy group sues over broken Medicare appeals process
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 27, 2014
Long-term care providers have been outspoken in their criticism of the Medicare appeals process, which has all but ground to a halt. Now a class-action lawsuit says Medicare beneficiaries also are being...
CMS: Many skilled nursing providers have poor Medicare certification and recertification practices
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 22, 2014
The rate of improper Medicare payments to skilled nursing facilities has increased largely due to issues with certification and recertification statements, according to a recently released government memorandum....
Government releases first-of-its-kind toolkit to help hospitals, post-acute facilities reduce Medicaid...
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 22, 2014
Hospital partnerships with post-acute and long-term care facilities are crucial to reducing Medicaid readmissions, and providers now can refer to a new report and free toolkit to help forge these relationships,...