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...
Moving the needle in nursing home vaccination rates
By
Michael Wasserman
Leslie Eber
Feb 14, 2024
On February 29, 2020, the first Coronavirus nursing home outbreak was reported by the media. Experts in geriatric and long-term care medicine immediately understood the dangers to nursing home residents....
The killer hiding on the porch
By
Gary Tetz
May 19, 2022
I’m not easily surprised these days, because…everything. But I just stumbled across an astonishing bit of data.
The shortest distance between two points
By
Noah Marco
Feb 17, 2021
Prior to 1816, it was common practice for doctors to place their ears to patients’ chests to detect the workings of hearts, lungs and other organs. That year, French physician Rene Laennec, who was...
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...
Every breath you take
By
Gary Tetz
May 05, 2022
As pandemic testing becomes more sophisticated, a creepy song from the ’80s takes on new and ominous relevance. “Every breath you take I’ll be watching you,” warned The Police, and now that an...
Manufacturing solutions to skilled nursing’s pandemic problems
By
Dean Moore
Mar 24, 2021
I have been in the workplace a long time. To quote Steve Martin, “If I had saved better, I would not be here.” Over the past year, the long-term care industry has faced monumental challenges related...
The failures of nursing homes to prevent the spread of COVID-19
By
Stuart H. Shapiro, M.D.
Jan 19, 2022
As the now-retired CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, I’ve sadly watched too many residents and staff die unnecessarily of COVID-19. Unfortunately, we are already in the fourth wave,...
COVID-19 dealt a devastating blow to nursing homes — don’t let looming cuts make it worse
By
Cynthia Morton
Jul 12, 2021
In late June, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General released a report stating that approximately 42% of Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes were diagnosed with...
It’s time for full transparency
By
Michael Wasserman
Jan 13, 2021
I threw down the gauntlet for the nursing home industry to focus on clinical care two years ago. I warned that in the spring of 2020, providers would “start to hurt because the cost of caring...