Tragicomically, CMS asserts “this final rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities[.]”
Providers: Staffing rule a CMS ‘fairy tale’ that will ‘exacerbate’ nursing home access issue
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 23, 2024
Despite minor concessions in a staffing mandate issued Monday, many nursing home providers were shell-shocked by what they saw as federal regulators’ intractable stance on minimums at a time when nearly...
Therapy should be more than productivity
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Apr 22, 2024
“I’m too sick for therapy today.” “Come back later.” “Leave me alone.” If you’ve worked in long-term care (or hospitals or LTACHs or acute rehab hospitals), you’ve heard...
Medicare audits ‘ramping up’ with isolation coding in the crosshairs
By
Josh Henreckson
Apr 22, 2024
Auditors are paying special attention to isolation and quarantine coding amid already heightened Medicare nursing home audits that are expected to increase in coming months, experts warn.
Who’s easier to beat up on than nursing homes? No one
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 19, 2024
When historians look back on the 21st century, many lessons will be learned. Among them, the importance of maintaining a good reputation and image.
Knitting a team
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 18, 2024
I can still remember the clicking of needles and the feeling of chunky strands of cotton passing silently between my fingers. It was early in my elementary school epoch, and we tiny people sat cross-legged...
Robots running senior care? Not exactly — yet
By
Neville M. Bilimoria
Apr 17, 2024
With all the problems long-term care is grappling with and focusing on, sometimes it is harder to see even bigger problems down the road. Right now, senior care facilities are grappling with staffing shortages...
One more spin around the dance floor before CMS takes its bow
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 16, 2024
It’s the annual coming out season for the nursing home brass at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, who’ve recently been spotted at two provider conferences and filled a whole day’s agenda...
Conducting and documenting meaningful fire drills in LTC facilities
By
Stan Szpytek
Apr 16, 2024
From some of our earliest memories in elementary school as little kids, we all recall participating in fire drills on a periodic basis. Of course, the purpose of those fire drills was to train students,...
Coverage for Medicare’s e-visits still available, though few patients use service
By
Kristen Fischer
Apr 15, 2024
Once the pandemic was in full swing, Medicare started paying doctors and other healthcare providers for e-visits (those that required at least five minutes of medical decision-making). The e-visits are...