One state seeks to return polish to star ratings. How long will the rest take?
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 27, 2024
More ratings, relationships and payment incentives are tied to nursing home data than ever before, but that data also appears to be harder than just about ever to collect in a timely manner.
Healthcare fraud rampant, but OIG refines its focus on nursing homes
By
Neville M. Bilimoria
Feb 19, 2024
For 2024, healthcare fraud has already been rampant, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. But on Jan. 19, the OIG took a specific stance with...
Staffing, Medicaid policy force nursing homes to ‘self-limit’ access
Apr 09, 2024
One in four skilled nursing beds is offline in Pennsylvania, with providers tying reduced access directly to a lack of frontline staff and Medicaid payment shortfalls. But that’s no one-state issue,...
Holding the regulators in check
By
John O'Connor
May 27, 2024
By now you have probably heard the American Health Care Association plans to take industry regulators to court.
For providers, the time has come to predict, prepare and partner up for the the next big threat
By
Kimberly Marselas
Apr 10, 2024
BALTIMORE — One of the newest nursing home division staff members at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services offered up her best Notradamus impression for providers here Wednesday. No, Lenise Cummings-Vaughn,...
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,...
Resident engagement in 2024: Opportunities abound
By
Charles de Vilmorin
Jan 31, 2024
Engagement in long-term care and senior living is a team sport: everyone collaborates with residents to honor their preferences so they live each day with purpose. There has been much progress in this...
How LTC facilities can use communication technology to avoid compliance traps
By
Gary Hamilton
Frances Carroll
Apr 02, 2024
“If it is not documented, it is not done” is a fundamental rule of healthcare. For those who work in long-term care (LTC) and skilled nursing, a relevant version of this rule is, “If a staff member...
The coming cicada invasion. Can the MDS compete?
By
Joel VanEaton
Feb 20, 2024
I am constantly reminded how the complexities of nature astound me. Recently, I became aware of the impending cicada invasion that will happen this year in various regions of the United States. According...
Playing politics with nursing home care
By
Brendan Williams
Apr 23, 2024
Tragicomically, CMS asserts “this final rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities[.]”