On Oct. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will be updating the Minimum Data Set with another round of changes. Most are minor but there will be two changes to the therapy section. Your case-mix...
What’s on Your PEPPER Report?
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Sep 10, 2013
Have you received your provider-specific PEPPER report yet? The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) were mailed on August 30 and have been slowly arriving at skilled nursing...
Overcoming the guilt and embracing the gifts of long-term care
By
Deborah Shouse
Sep 04, 2013
Sometimes it takes ones own family member going into long-term care to understand what the community provides. Deborah Shouse previews her new book, “Love in the Land of Dementia: Finding Hope in...
Ready for a little late summer seasoning? (PEPPER to be exact!)
By
Steven Littlehale
Aug 30, 2013
The SNF PEPPER or “Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report” summarizes Medicare claims data to identify risk for abuse or improper payment. PEPPER compares a SNF’s claims...
Are you prepared? 5 questions you need to know the answers to
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Aug 27, 2013
With all the recent regulatory changes that have come down the line, or are about to, we developed a simple five-question survey that each provider had to ask every therapy employee. If you can develop...
Late-career leverage: Upheaval spells opportunity
By
Adriane Willig
Aug 14, 2013
Whatever the situation, “experienced” long-term care leaders looking for work need to understand that the landscape is different.
What is therapy? It’s not as simple as it might seem
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Aug 13, 2013
“What is therapy?” sounds like a simple question, but it requires a separate and very complex answer for each discipline.
MDS data quality: Things are not always as they seem
By
Steven Littlehale
Jul 15, 2013
Open up the hood and look at the engine. Does the data scrubbing module focus only on standard CMS coding and consistency checks and the “RUG” items, or is it more robust and emphasize clinical...
50 shades of G-coding
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Jul 02, 2013
Sorry, ladies, I didn’t mean to get your hopes up with that title. But does anyone else feel like there is a lot of ambiguity to the new G-Coding system? Well, it’s a little too early to tell...
Six tips for a great gardening program
By
Dave Singleton
Jun 28, 2013
A gardening program (or horticulture therapy) gives seniors an opportunity to beautify the environment around them and engage in a beloved hobby — or take up a hobby they’ve always wanted to try.