Even though the Payroll-Based Journal kick-off was last Friday, it’s understandable that questions still cloud this new process. It behooves providers to get up to speed and become better informed...
A tisket, a tasket … No LPNs in the RN basket
By
Steven Littlehale
Jul 20, 2015
Reporting direct care hours is nothing new, but the Affordable Care Act takes it to the next level with mandatory quarterly electronic submission of staffing and census data. This focus on staffing ratios...
Five-Star insights: Will those stars ever illuminate your path?
By
Steven Littlehale
May 16, 2012
I recently asked a hospital discharge planner how she chooses which nursing home to discharge to. “Five-Star” was the reply. Was I surprised? Not at all. Once again, it demonstrates just how...
The Einstein option — a real staffing no-brainer
By
Michael Wasserman
Mar 13, 2024
In January, I wrote about the importance of adequate nursing home staffing levels. As a geriatrician who has worked in nursing homes for nearly 40 years, I can attest to the importance of the incredible...
Nursing shortages, and why ‘nobody wants to work anymore’
By
Jean Wendland Porter
May 02, 2023
Everyone has been feeling the nursing shortage, and now the Biden administration has tightened staffing rules, and that order will become a harbinger of more skilled nursing facility crises and closings....
A plan for a winning care team
By
Virginia Bache
Aug 08, 2022
So much has been written, proposed and discussed about improving care in skilled nursing and long-term care, but nothing really changes. In the April issue of McKnight’s, an article addressed President...
CMS should be careful in what it asks for
By
Brendan Williams
Dec 23, 2022
Those in the nursing home sector are worried a potential staffing mandate imposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could be the ruination of a reeling sector. However, there is an argument...
Dementia care training can lessen staffing woes
By
Teepa Snow
Dec 03, 2021
Dementia changes everything. This means that we need to change everything we do in order to keep everyone, residents and staff, safe and in a setting where they can shine. This also means organizations...
Leaders, the ides of March are blowing
By
Martie Moore
Mar 11, 2022
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and wind blows cold – when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. — Charles Dickens, “Great Expectations” I remember calling...
Agency staffing on the rise? Believe it — and plan for it
By
Steven Littlehale
Nov 21, 2016
The use of contract agency staff to fill nurse aide and licensed nurse vacancies is escalating. This increase is seen across many states, not to mention across the nation as a whole. Yes, we have a well-documented...