We know many of you are still sitting out the travel season, whether due to the pandemic or needing all-hands on deck inside your short-staffed facilities. The McKnight’s team will be working double-time...
Long-term care’s problems are bad and getting worse — but fixable
By
Stephen A. Moses
Oct 01, 2021
The long-term care business is hurting: labor shortages, wage pressures, vax mandates, too much Medicaid, too little private pay, value-based reimbursement, MedPAC vs. Medicare and so on and on. What should...
Advice from a recovering pessimist
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 30, 2021
Who am I to be giving advice? I have no proficiency in PDPM, MDS, CQI, RUGs, ISNPs or any other intimidating or indecipherable acronym. No one is begging me for my thoughts on staffing or infection control....
Can two industries fighting for workers unite in the caregiving crisis?
By
Kimberly Marselas
Sep 29, 2021
Pitting the long-term care industry’s needs against those of the childcare industry would be short-sighted.
We need staff… NOW
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Sep 28, 2021
Last year, as the pandemic raged in New York City and sirens filled the air, a group of young travel nurses arrived to assist weary long-term care teams. They took over nursing stations that had been depleted...
The most critical gap in patient care: Post-discharge behavioral health
By
Sherie L. Friedrich, PsyD
Sep 28, 2021
Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry has experienced a marked shift to home-based care as more and more patients – including seniors – opt to recover at home rather than in a long-term...
Ransomware is rampant: Is your facility safe?
By
Del Williams
Sep 22, 2021
With ransomware attacks on long-term care facilities increasing, managers are asking, “Are we vulnerable too?” or even “Are we next?” According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, IT support...
When the fog lifts
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 16, 2021
I fancy myself a brave and intrepid hiker, and a couple weeks ago chose a particularly daunting trail that was rumored to lead to some of the best possible views of Mount Hood, the 11,249-foot peak that...
Reducing the impact of cascading collective trauma in LTC
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Sep 14, 2021
I spent most of last weekend doing what I could to avoid the 9/11-related headlines in the news. With my Manhattan-below-14th-Street recollections of the event, last year’s immersion in the pandemic...
Life safety alert: Storage is prohibited in the means of egress
By
Stan Szpytek
Sep 13, 2021
As a Life Safety Consultant working directly with LTC providers around the country as well as with many state healthcare associations, I need to start this piece by being blunt and will get straight to...