While employee retention is always a top priority, operating in a pandemic intensifies the urgency to hire and maintain competent, committed staff. Since the first three months of employment are particularly...
The solution to nursing homes’ COVID-19 testing shortages
By
James M. Berklan
Aug 14, 2020
Fret no more. I’ve figured out how to get plenty of COVID-19 testing to take place at nursing homes. The federal government may have wished for more testing of residents and workers, but my plan has...
Skilled nursing facilities face enforcement challenges in COVID-19 environment
By
Jon Ferry
Aug 12, 2020
Skilled nursing facilities have faced unprecedented challenges since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Individuals with many high-risk characteristics are the typical patients of these facilities....
Private equity’s reckoning
By
Liza Berger
Aug 12, 2020
In my second installment of “Things we can learn from the pandemic,” COVID-19 may force private equity to take a good, hard look at what it is doing in the skilled nursing space.
My job in a COVID-19 hotspot didn’t give me COVID — it gave me PTSD
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Aug 11, 2020
Even a long-term care psychologist can fall prey to the psychological and emotional terrors of the COVID-19 pandemic, I can unfortunately report to you with ironic confidence.
Facing ways to improve PPE long term
By
Jay Baker
Aug 11, 2020
Protecting vulnerable populations, particularly long-term care residents and staff, from viruses and infections is critical. The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on the fact that not only is there a need for...
Looking at COVID-19 through the eyes of residents with dementia
By
P.K. Beville
Aug 10, 2020
When I was in graduate school as a single parent, barely making ends meet, I lamented to my mother in loud, ugly sobs that I thought I might be going crazy. I was serious. My mother calmly responded,...
We should be doing more to prepare for the next pandemic
By
Joel Landau
Aug 10, 2020
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, it is important to not only deal with the present reality but also to think ahead. And on the latter score it is instructive to read the words of Michael T. Osterholm,...
How to come out stronger after COVID-19
By
Robert Segal
Aug 07, 2020
For all skilled and long-term care operators, COVID-19 was a game-changer. For one particular mid-sized skilled nursing facility in the Midwest, this was no exception. With the first case came fear of...
Nursing home staffing headed for more scrutiny
By
James M. Berklan
Aug 07, 2020
When a government watchdog decides it wants to investigate you, it’s usually not going to be content with a “No fire here, folks!” conclusion. Nobody knows that better than nursing home operators....