Nurses who don’t pay taxes or student loans could trigger penalties for SNFs, expert says
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 07, 2014
Registered nurses who default on a student loan or fail to pay taxes could put a skilled nursing facility in the crosshairs of federal fraud investigators, a compliance expert told an audience Sunday at...
Senators press for SNF survey changes in light of adverse events report
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 07, 2014
The skilled nursing facility survey process is failing to ensure resident safety and needs to be improved, two prominent senators said in a recent letter to the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...
Median cost of a private nursing home room now exceeds $87,000 a year, Genworth survey finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 03, 2014
The median annual cost of a private nursing home room in the United States has increased to $87,600, according to the latest annual survey from insurance company Genworth. This represents a 4.4% increase...
Nursing home workers could better communicate with family over ‘gray area’ decisions during...
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 01, 2014
Even with advance directives in place, family members making decisions for end-stage dementia patients struggle with the trajectory of the condition, suggests a small study out of Virginia Commonwealth...
A long-term care facility slapped with a civil monetary penalty has a chance for an independent informal dispute resolution, according to new manual guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Day in the Life: Sniffing out wandering residents
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 01, 2014
Long-term care providers might want to get themselves an Acki to help locate residents who wander from the premises. No, Acki is not the name of a brand new electronic monitoring system. Acki is a German...
Nursing homes demonstrate health information exchange, Minnesota style
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 01, 2014
It pains me to say it, but Minnesota’s done it again.
Stroke patients should have access to robust palliative care, American Heart Association urges in first-of-its-kind...
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 31, 2014
Stroke survivors have “enormous” palliative care needs, and healthcare providers should ensure they can provide these services, according to a scientific statement released Friday by the American...
CMS is failing to ensure that terminated skilled nursing facilities and other providers are not billing...
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 28, 2014
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services needs to do a better job of ensuring that terminated Medicaid providers in a particular state, including skilled nursing facilities, don’t reappear in...
Assigning nurses’ desired shifts improves their work ability and health, large study finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 28, 2014
Nurses’ job performance and health are better when they can work the shifts that they want, suggests recently published findings from a large European study.