Nursing facilities – A medical crisis in need of a prescription
By
David Chess, MD
Seema Verma
Oct 19, 2022
Nursing facilities have evolved from rest homes to medical facilities over the last 20 years. Patients are sicker, older, have more medical comorbidities and are frailer. They require more assistance with...
Beyond ‘document, document document’ — Risk mitigation strategies that work
By
Steven Littlehale
Feb 03, 2023
We encounter risk every day. Risk is present in the most innocuous actions, like crossing the street, walking into the supermarket, and even eating dinner. And as nursing home operators and providers well...
Closures, consolidations and downsizings: Using crisis communications principles to share bad news
By
Nora Jacobs
Apr 21, 2023
Although many industries continue to struggle with the after-effects of COVID-19, perhaps no segment of the economy has suffered as extensively as the long-term care industry. According to the American...
Falling by the wayside
By
Steven Levenson
Oct 24, 2023
This month’s column invokes several previous columns, one about medications and the other about knowing if we know what we don’t know. A recent medical journal article concluded that falls in...
Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
By
Steven Littlehale
Oct 14, 2022
It’s a curious day when I lift a lyric from the Spice Girls to title an article. The Spice Girls’ first single, “Wannabe,” was released in 1996 and rocketed to the top of the British singles chart....
Biden’s regulatory Death Star
By
Brendan Williams
Sep 11, 2023
Despite federal data showing that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to massive job losses for nursing and residential care facilities – with the workforce 218,200 workers smaller last month...
Owners & investors: Must-have survival discussions to have with operators on managing SNF assets
By
Alex S. Paley, MPH
Sep 22, 2022
The “new normal” for those who operate skilled nursing facilities is not so new anymore. Staffing and labor shortages that at one time would have been labeled as unthinkable are now the everyday...
Unraveling the impact: PDPM Medicaid case-mix index and potential Five-Star Rating challenges
By
Steven Littlehale
Mar 01, 2024
The landscape of Medicaid reimbursement for nursing homes is undergoing significant changes. Presently, eight states have adopted the PDPM case-mix index (CMI) model, and an additional 31 states are set...
New SNF Value-Based Purchasing program: Act now!
By
Steven Littlehale
Apr 28, 2023
When I read my first SNF PPS final rule about 25 years ago, I thought that the start dates for some of its initiatives were so far in the future that they were of no concern. As a young person, my long-range...
It’s time for care solutions, not excuses
By
Michael Wasserman
Jan 09, 2023
In February 2019, I wrote about the importance of fully engaging geriatricians and certified medical directors in the operations of nursing homes and chains. A month later, I shared my concern about a...