Lawmakers must address nursing home workforce crisis to ensure quality care
By
George Linial
Mar 08, 2021
Before COVID-19, Texas nursing homes reported the worst staffing shortages in the nation. Texas projected we will be 60,000 nurses short by 2030, and that demand in nursing homes would double between 2015...
Nursing homes’ raw deal during COVID-19
By
Bill McGinley
Apr 15, 2020
On their best days nursing homes start out behind the eight ball. Underfunded and understaffed, they care for the most physically needy and vulnerable among us. Generally, they are paid about 70% of the...
Vaccination nation
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Aug 11, 2021
Last week an insurance adjuster came over to scope out some storm damage. Anyone who enters my home must be vaccinated or wear a mask (I keep clean masks at the front door. I’m nice like that). If...
How SNFs are cutting costs without cutting back on care
By
Betsy Rust
Jun 29, 2018
As if managing the health of patients wasn’t difficult and time-consuming enough, skilled nursing facilities now have to do more to manage their increasingly complex businesses as well.
Long-term care heroes needed to help critical blood supply shortage
By
Teri Sumbry
Mar 10, 2018
Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood, but this year a massive nationwide shortage is putting lives at risk. In response to this dire situation, the nation’s long-term care...
We’ve built it, but help isn’t coming fast enough
By
Brendan Williams
Mar 30, 2022
In the movie “Field of Dreams,” Karin Kinsella assures her father, Ray, that “people will come” to his farm’s baseball field as he faces foreclosure. Those of us who are long-term care advocates...
Skilled care, mental health focus needed to decrease hospitalizations
By
Gayle Morris
Jan 11, 2021
Preventing hospitalizations is as much a sign of good health in older adults as it is a way to maintain it. The burden of infection control, preventing skin breakdown, pneumonia — and the myriad other...
MDS data may hasten timely evacuations
By
Anna Fisher, Ph.D.
Sharon Metcalf, Ph.D.
Aug 06, 2015
It’s no surprise that natural disasters and man-caused emergencies disproportionately affect older adults.
Every day is an opportunity to forge relationships
By
Chad Elberson
Feb 08, 2010
Strong relationships are the backbone of the culture change movement.
Why some are resisting vaccination, and how we can help
By
Steven Littlehale
Jan 10, 2021
The woeful percentages of long-term care employees willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccination are going to improve. But only with time and ramped up communication efforts.