When the star goes down and payment’s involved, beware
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 22, 2016
A leader in the quest to increase long-term care insurance activity delivered a blow to its followers this week. The fallout might not be pretty.
Groups to find out if Obamacare is their golden ticket
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 09, 2014
Healthcare reform — Obamacare — has stuck a lot of providers and caregivers in tough positions. Whether proponents or opponent of the watershed law, most expect rocky times, at least temporarily, are...
Birthday wishes for Medicare and Medicaid
By
Liza Berger
Aug 05, 2010
Amid your daily workload and the whir of summer, a couple birthdays may have slipped by you. I’m speaking of the 45th anniversaries of Medicare and Medicaid.
‘Never discharge’: concept or reality?
By
Martie Moore
May 22, 2015
Recently, I found myself engaged in a rich discussion about the current state of healthcare reform. We were debating the pros and cons of accountable care organizations. I introduced the concept of “never...
Nursing home lobbying merger was a long time in coming
By
James M. Berklan
May 30, 2013
Almost immediately after the 2006 schism that threatened to fully tear them fully apart, some stakeholders wanted to see the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care remain united with the American Health...
One threat removed, but even bigger one remains
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 06, 2017
Make no mistake: Long-term care providers will take a victory wherever they can, and the Trump administration’s move to rescind the Obama administration’s ban on pre-dispute arbitration agreements...
An unwelcome gift from MedPAC
By
Liza Berger
Dec 16, 2009
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! What has Santa brought you this year? The usual: A preliminary recommendation to freeze Medicare rates for the following year.
MedPAC idea could be bad for nursing homes
By
Liza Berger
May 27, 2009
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) recently introduced legislation that would make the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) part of the executive branch. The proposal is at once both logical and worrisome....
Preventing Legionnaires’ disease in LTC
By
Amanda Thornton, RN, MSN
Jan 12, 2018
It is not often that we think of Legionnaires’ disease, the form of pneumonia brought on by inhaling aerosolized water containing L pneumophila bacteria. But when the illness rears its ugly head,...
Facility assessment, emergency preparedness and QAPI — a service delivery exercise
By
Jason Elizaitis
Jul 10, 2017
Your post-acute/long-term care organization should be well on its way to developing its Facility Assessment, Emergency Preparedness Plan and written QAPI plan for compliance by November 2017. The best...