It’s no secret that finding and keeping nurses is one of the skilled care sector’s biggest headaches. But it would appear that the folks who regulate this field don’t want to hear it any more. As...
Ask The Payment Expert
By
Caryn Adams
Jun 06, 2019
My April Five-Star rating is different from what I expected. Why? In March, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services posted changes to the Five-Star calculation methods that affected ratings beginning...
‘Telementoring’ boosts SNF caregiving and its processes
By
Amy Novotney
Jun 06, 2019
Remote coaching by academic medical experts can improve geriatrics expertise among skilled nursing employees, a University of Chicago study has found. SNF caregivers often lack the needed background...
Citing staffing shortages, another hospital shutters its long-term care wing
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 06, 2019
Relying largely on contracted staff when they couldn’t recruit enough nurses, leaders at Providence Health Care in Washington state could do little more than watch as costs for their 40-bed long-term...
Joint bundle pushes costs down — at SNFs’ expense
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 04, 2019
The first two years of a mandatory payment bundle for joint replacements saved Medicare more than 2% annually, but much of it came through reduced payments to post-acute providers.
Researchers: Train more non-docs in palliative care or suffer dire consequences
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 04, 2019
Skilled nursing residents are likely to be hit especially hard by shortages of palliative care physicians over the next 25 years, according to a new study.
How to prepare for trauma-informed care
By
Robert Figlerski, Ph.D.
Jun 03, 2019
Most of us go about our daily routine with a sense of relative safety and security. That feeling of well-being can be quickly shattered by a traumatic event — the kind of unexpected, life-altering occurrence...
For frontline workers, not much to look forward to
By
John O'Connor
Jun 02, 2019
Frontline workers in long-term care already have it plenty tough. But the worst may be yet to come, if one predicted scenario plays out.
Higher nursing home staffing levels produce fewer flu hospitalizations
By
Kimberly Marselas
May 31, 2019
Increasing nurse staffing hours can help cut down on flu- and pneumonia-related hospitalizations, according to a new study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
Veteran provider tires of ‘all sticks and no carrots’
By
James M. Berklan
May 30, 2019
The Liistro family has been involved in long-term care for longer than many readers of this blog have been alive. When you get to 50 years, you need to keep counting. They’ve been very good years for...