Fike 2.0: How national tragedy created a long-term care champion
By
Tim Mullaney
May 20, 2014
Last week, President Obama dedicated the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City. The occasion got me thinking about how the searing experience instilled in some survivors a fierce sense of mission. Katy...
PharMerica to pay $200,000 settlement over federal charges of unsafe dispensing practices
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 17, 2014
Long-term care pharmacy company PharMerica has agreed to pay about $213,000 to settle charges that it dispensed medications without prescriptions and committed other breaches of the Controlled Substances...
‘Virtual hands’ take stroke rehabilitation into a new realm, researchers believe
By
Tim Mullaney
Nov 19, 2013
3-D glasses soon might be seen in long-term care facilities as well as movie theaters, thanks to a potential breakthrough in stroke rehabilitation. Stroke survivors in a study successfully used a virtual...
Hospice billings changed
By
Tim Mullaney
Oct 01, 2014
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently updated instructions on coding hospice claims. Billing staffs should be aware of these changes, which went into effect Oct. 1, CMS stated in a memorandum...
CDC tightens Ebola guidelines for healthcare workers
By
Tim Mullaney
Oct 22, 2014
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued more stringent guidelines for how healthcare workers should interact with Ebola patients, following an outcry from nurses and other professionals.
Long-term care providers might need to change pain management to cut opioid use, MedPAC analyst says
By
Tim Mullaney
Oct 15, 2014
Long-term care and other providers might have to alter their pain management practices if changes discussed at a recent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission meeting come to pass.
Ensuring nursing home quality is a top challenge for HHS in 2014, inspector general says
By
Tim Mullaney
Dec 18, 2013
Promoting quality care in long-term care settings is one of the top management challenges facing the Department of Health and Human Services in the next year, according to a report from the agency’s...
Nursing homes send too many dementia residents to the hospital in their last year of life, study finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Apr 11, 2014
Nursing homes could do a better job of keeping residents with dementia out of the hospital during their last year of life, suggests recently published findings in Health Affairs.
Foot ulcers double the cost of diabetes care, study finds
By
Tim Mullaney
Mar 17, 2014
Eliminating foot ulcers would cut costs for diabetes care in half, according to researchers with consulting firm The Analysis Group.
Frontline, Emeritus and the question of empathy
By
Tim Mullaney
Aug 20, 2013
It’s easier to have empathy for people if you know specific things about them. Long-term care providers know this, and it is behind many valuable programs to learn more about residents’ lives....