A good book’s unintended lesson and tears for a great friend
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 27, 2015
One of the best signs of a good book is its unplanned lessons. While its title might profess how to fix this or do better at that, a high-quality book also will lead the reader to enlightenment for reasons...
Nursing home operators hail ‘historic’ Senate passage of permanent ‘doc fix’...
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 15, 2015
The Senate overwhelmingly voted to pass H.R. 2 Tuesday night, paving the way for repeal of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate and drawing the praise of the largest nursing home association in the country.
Editor’s desk: Stars losing their luster for ‘punished’ providers
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 06, 2015
One gets the feeling that federal regulators, no matter how proper the official talk went, took a bit of pleasure in sending a message to providers when recently rebasing their star ratings.
We were all in on the scheme and didn’t even know it
By
James M. Berklan
Apr 06, 2015
The recent past came rushing up other day, and it wound up whisking all of us onto the set of some fast-paced, financial mayhem-filled movie. Yes, you were there, too — though like me, you might not...
Can we get that in writing? We better
By
James M. Berklan
Mar 30, 2015
If you asked long-term care providers what their main concern is, you would think it would be “patient care,” right? It turns out, that’s not reality. Most providers, it appears, are...
Alarming headline about safety gives incomplete picture
By
James M. Berklan
Mar 16, 2015
Curse the headline writers, for they sometimes don’t do stories justice. The nursing home profession knows this as well as anyone.
Nursing homes receive an unexpected compliment
By
James M. Berklan
Mar 09, 2015
Would anyone recommend duplicating something if they didn’t feel it was worthy or successful? Of course not. It’s this reasoning that should give skilled nursing operators comfort and pride.
CMS’s confusing kick in the teeth
By
James M. Berklan
Feb 23, 2015
One gets the feeling that federal regulators, no matter how proper the official talk went, took a bit of pleasure in sticking it to nursing home operators over rebasing their star ratings the past week...
As rating system changes, nursing homes should power on
By
James M. Berklan
Feb 17, 2015
As the countdown to Friday begins, and nursing homes ratchet up their anxiety over the public debut of the “new” Five Star rating system, I have a few words of wisdom to share.
Skilled sector fears massive doctor bill
By
James M. Berklan
Feb 01, 2015
Long-term care provider advocates kicked off a comprehensive lobbying campaign in January to encourage favorable reform to Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate formula for physicians.