In January, I wrote about the importance of adequate nursing home staffing levels. As a geriatrician who has worked in nursing homes for nearly 40 years, I can attest to the importance of the incredible...
What to expect when you’re expecting a Canadian
By
Gary Tetz
May 02, 2024
Through a miracle of parentage, fate and dual citizenship, I stand astride both sides of the 5,525-mile border that divides the peace-seeking United States from war-happy Canada. Given that reality, I...
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 underappreciated bartenders of long-term care
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 21, 2024
Before you think poorly of me, let me explain. I was in the bar that afternoon only because I had heard such great things about the nachos. Not buying it? How about this: I was conducting an in-person...
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...
Flying V: Lessons for the interdisciplinary team
By
Renee Kinder
Feb 29, 2024
If there has been a theme in my world this month, it is the art of asking for help. Not just asking for help but doing so with the confidence of knowing I am surrounded by team members ready to step in...
Spring refresh: Top of license practice
By
Renee Kinder
Mar 28, 2024
As the warmth of spring unfolds, it brings with it a renewal of energy and vitality. Spring symbolizes growth, rejuvenation and transformation. Growing in my backyard, in the midst of pebbles, three beautiful...
Therapy should be more than productivity
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Apr 22, 2024
“I’m too sick for therapy today.” “Come back later.” “Leave me alone.” If you’ve worked in long-term care (or hospitals or LTACHs or acute rehab hospitals), you’ve heard...
Baseline proficiency for success with managed care payers
By
Susie Mix
Mar 11, 2024
Setting up a building with proficiencies in working with managed care payers is a key to success at this midpoint of the 2020s. Fifty-one percent of Medicare-eligible Americans are covered by Medicare...
The Medicaid LTC snafu
By
Stephen A. Moses
Apr 15, 2024
Long-term care operators were sold a pig in a poke. When Medicaid started paying for nursing home care after 1965, it looked like a pretty good deal. The new revenue stream vastly expanded severely limited...