A possible escape from the nursing home staffing mandate?
By
James M. Berklan
May 14, 2023
There may be a silver lining to the excruciating wait providers are enduring for the White House’s nursing home staffing mandate.
How would you like to spend some ‘quality time’ with CMS?
By
John O'Connor
Sep 24, 2018
First it was staffing data, could Uncle Sam be after providers for quality data next? One Senator might be after just that.
New payment models present opportunities for SNFs
By
Jeff Terkowitz
Jun 18, 2014
For skilled nursing facilities, the Medicare SNF 3-day rule can make it difficult to place the right patients in the right setting at the right time. The 3-day rule requires that a Medicare beneficiary...
Hitting the road for rural respect
By
Kimberly Marselas
Oct 17, 2023
This week takes me on a road trip, but I assure you there’s no VW bus with a dashboard full of party snacks.
Breaches of basic infection control practices — why?
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Jul 30, 2012
Basic infection prevention and control isn’t rocket science. It is essentially following some general guidelines. Some of them pretty simplistic. Not too hard right? You would think, but …
Five-Star is anything but frozen
By
Steven Littlehale
Dec 13, 2017
The day after Thanksgiving, CMS further defined its intensions with the Five-Star Quality Rating System; more specifically how the new survey process and derivative data will be used in its calculation...
It’s time to put up or shut up on vaccine mandates
By
James M. Berklan
Aug 20, 2021
Will Wednesday’s White House announcement that COVID-19 vaccinations will be mandated for nursing home employees be a dealbreaker? It depends.
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 MDS reminds me of something in Narnia?
By
Joel VanEaton
May 16, 2023
I am a fan of C.S. Lewis. If you have not read “The Chronicles of Narnia,” you should. You may have seen the more recent three films based on these books. As good as they were, as is usually the case,...
A Medicare Advantage fix: What took so long?
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 12, 2024
Providers hoping that policy makers might some day show some backbone when dealing with Medicare Advantage plans can take heart. Well, at least a little.