COVID vaccines for LTC employees: To mandate or not?
By
Andrew Roach
May 24, 2021
After a year that has required long term care facilities to manage various, often competing, considerations while making a series of difficult decisions, they now are grappling with the question of whether...
The social contract for long-term care
By
Stephen A. Moses
May 17, 2021
America has a social contract for long-term care. It’s rarely acknowledged, but here it is. If you are stricken by a need for long-term care that you cannot afford, we help you even if you are not poor....
The coming crackdown: COVID-19 and beyond
By
Karen Christian
Matthew Hittle
Apr 21, 2021
For more than a year, America’s nursing homes have been besieged by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has tragically claimed the lives of more than 130,000 residents and 1,600 staff. While America’s nursing...
The risks of ‘swapping’ for durable medical equipment
By
Lori Rubin
Japa Volchok, D.O.
Apr 14, 2021
Skilled nursing facilities are to assume the cost of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) under a bundled payment methodology for residents in Medicare Part A covered...
Is the doctor in? Improve nursing homes with one easy stroke
By
Kenneth Lehmann
Apr 14, 2021
Many nursing home COVID-19 patients would have benefitted from daily, reimbursed-for physician visits in their skilled nursing facilities, but they were not entitled to them. With an epic crisis...
The CNAs are coming: Are you ready?
By
Lori Porter
Apr 07, 2021
It is doubtful that the framers of the constitution, when they drafted the First Amendment, had any idea that ensuring the “right of people to peaceably assemble” would include a virtual Zoom meeting...
NYT: You are as much of the problem as the Five-Star system
By
Steven Littlehale
Apr 02, 2021
A recent New York Times article about nursing homes is shameful, lazy journalism. Coupled with the need to sell advertising space, it purposefully perpetuates misunderstandings about nursing homes, caregivers...
Don’t lose sight of senior loneliness now that some restrictions are lifted
By
Bent Philipson
Mar 17, 2021
As we move through 2021, the loneliness posed by social distancing will likely remain a challenge for seniors. Healthcare providers should take a more proactive role in helping seniors manage their mental...
Lawmakers must address nursing home workforce crisis to ensure quality care
By
George Linial
Mar 08, 2021
Before COVID-19, Texas nursing homes reported the worst staffing shortages in the nation. Texas projected we will be 60,000 nurses short by 2030, and that demand in nursing homes would double between 2015...
Making the loneliness epidemic a mainstream problem, finally
By
Joel Landau
Feb 22, 2021
With the coronavirus pandemic still raging this summer, a senior living facility in North Carolina began posting photos on its Facebook page, each showing a resident holding a sign that listed the person’s...