Ditch the PowerPoints and make way for play and Jenga blocks. Every month or so, we invite new and current employees to a three-hour get-together called The Friendship Haven Experience to introduce or...
Enhanced barrier precautions: A win–win–win for LTC facilities, residents, and staff
By
Buffy Lloyd-Krejci, DrPH, CIC
Feb 07, 2024
In our post-COVID world, infection prevention and control (IPC) is more important than ever. This is especially true in long-term care facilities. Residents generally live in a congregate environment...
Arbitration order ruled invalid in COVID wrongful death case. That could be trouble for nursing homes:...
By
Josh Henreckson
Feb 06, 2024
An appellate court judge has ruled that a plaintiff who filed a wrongful death case on behalf of her mother was not bound by an arbitration agreement she had signed in her role as power of attorney.
Impossible expectations are undermining nursing home care
By
Brendan Williams
Feb 05, 2024
Maine has the nation’s oldest population, and yet almost 40% of its nursing homes have closed within the past few decades. As the Bangor Daily News has reported, that’s forced residents of some...
Mild COVID-19 can bring on insomnia, especially in those with anxiety or depression
By
Kristen Fischer
Feb 05, 2024
Insomnia following a COVID-19 hospitalization already was well known among the medical community, but a new study finds that mild COVID-19 infections also are linked to the sleeping problem — especially...
Hearing amplifiers work well in clinics, but challenges remain: report
By
Kristen Fischer
Feb 05, 2024
Personal hearing amplifiers, or PHAs — devices that help people hear better but aren’t tailored to the user as are hearing aids — work well in healthcare clinics to help individuals hear what their...
The RAC is back, increasing scrutiny in a complex nursing home audit environment
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 05, 2024
Audits of skilled nursing providers are likely to increase this year, with a growing number of federal and state recovery audits adding to specialized compliance reviews announced last year.
Failure to account for cognitive limitations threatens reliability of complaint process: researchers
By
Josh Henreckson
Feb 02, 2024
Regulators haven’t found a way to fully account for the ways Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias affect the nursing home complaint process, likely leaving some deficiencies unaddressed, a new study...
Hans and CMS: Two peas in a value-based pod
By
James M. Berklan
Feb 02, 2024
In another life, in another millennium, on another continent, your faithful scribe was an auto factory worker. This led to many unexpected insights into human nature that I still recall decades later....
Understanding and addressing pain: Thoughts for therapists
By
Renee Kinder
Feb 01, 2024
In my continued endeavor to win Mother of the Year, I really racked up some points this week. Isaac, my youngest son, took a nice spill last Friday while skiing. He suffered what we thought...