Usually, we can safely rely on seniors to set an inspiring example for younger folks to emulate. They unselfishly share the wisdom acquired with age to help successive generations overcome current challenges,...
Staying the course: Lessons from ponies for upcoming Medicare changes
By
Renee Kinder
Aug 31, 2023
There’s a certain kind of magic when watching eq competitions, especially when it involves someone dear to you. Over the weekend, our daughter, Emmy Grace, took part in her first hunter jumper 2-foot...
A beautiful noise
By
Gary Tetz
Apr 04, 2024
My first reaction was paralyzing shock, followed by bewildering bafflement, quickly replaced with intense feelings of personal revulsion. I must have stumbled across something truly horrible, right?...
Plugging in to the source
By
Gary Tetz
Dec 14, 2023
Somewhere down the road, when I walk through the front doors of your long-term care facility on my first day as a resident, I hope to move with even half the vigor 80-year-old Barry Manilow showed as he...
The red bird: A story of connection and meaning
By
Martie Moore
Dec 15, 2023
My encounters with the red bird had been limited until a week after my mother died. I was sitting on the couch, consumed with grief when it first arrived. The red bird flew to the transom and peered...
Armed intruder and active shooter preparedness in LTC facilities
By
Stan Szpytek
Steve Wilder
Oct 09, 2023
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires skilled nursing facilities to plan for emergencies and disasters to protect the vulnerable population they serve. The regulations cited in Appendix...
Minimum standards or wishful thinking?
By
Irving Stackpole
John Sheridan
Oct 02, 2023
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services notice of proposed rulemaking and the report on which it is based have made the foundational point that more staff in nursing homes will result in better patient...
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...
Artificial intelligence to the rescue: Putting humanity back into healthcare
By
Martie Moore
Apr 05, 2024
The box remained unpacked from coast to coast. Needing to clear out the closet in my office, I finally opened it and looked at the contents. At the bottom of the box was a plain journal, pages folded over...
Medicare Advantage: A not-so-advantageous deal for beneficiaries and providers
By
Brendan Williams
Nov 29, 2023
Open enrollment is well underway for Medicare, as television viewers inundated with cheesy insurance company ads can tell. Those ads must work. For the first time 2024 will see most Medicare...