Discharge trends suggest hospices are ditching patients in their last days to preserve profits, Washington...
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 08, 2014
Hospices may increasingly be discharging dying patients to hospitals in an effort to protect their bottom lines, according to an article published Thursday in The Washington Post.
Good performance on SNF quality measures does not prevent deaths or readmissions, study finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Oct 15, 2014
A skilled nursing facility that scores well on quality measures is not necessarily reducing residents’ risk of death or readmission within 30 days of arriving from a hospital, according to findings...
CMS releases reference chart for new therapy-related G-codes
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 16, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a reference chart listing the new G-codes needed for outpatient therapy services claims under the Medicare fee-for-service program.
Nursing home asked for employee’s personal information too often, jury rules
By
Tim Mullaney
Oct 24, 2014
The human resources department of a Maine nursing home did not properly protect a former employee’s personal identification information, a jury recently ruled.
Nursing homes’ security threatened by information posted to hacker website
By
Tim Mullaney
Feb 19, 2014
Documents posted to a file-sharing website could have been used to steal medical record and credit card information from three nursing homes in New York state, according to a Tuesday report in the Wall...
Hand hygiene prior to donning gloves is unnecessary, study finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Jan 06, 2014
Performing hand hygiene prior to putting on gloves may not be a necessary practice, suggests recently published research in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Congressional lawmakers grill top ALJ on appeals backlog, say too many providers are being put out of...
By
Tim Mullaney
Jul 11, 2014
Efforts to root out Medicare fraud have put far too many above-board providers in auditors’ crosshairs, leading to a staggering backlog of appeals that has no easy fix, Congressional lawmakers and...
Judge dismisses HIPAA claims arising from Omnicell laptop theft
By
Tim Mullaney
Jan 06, 2014
Individuals do not have the right to sue healthcare providers under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act simply because their personal information was compromised, a federal judge recently...
Poll: Many believe that long-term care financing is mostly private pay
By
Tim Mullaney
Oct 01, 2013
Many Americans mistakenly believe that long-term care in the United States is primarily paid for out-of-pocket, according to the latest poll to show how deeply people misunderstand this aspect of the healthcare...
Assigning nurses’ desired shifts improves their work ability and health, large study finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 28, 2014
Nurses’ job performance and health are better when they can work the shifts that they want, suggests recently published findings from a large European study.