Looks like insurance isn’t the only thing being exchanged here
By
John O'Connor
Sep 23, 2013
I have a friend who might be best described as a curmudgeon-in-training. He seems to live in a world where almost everything was better than it is now.
Frisky Alzheimer’s residents: ‘ew’ or ‘aw’?
By
John O'Connor
Mar 15, 2013
Alzheimer’s disease is very good at taking. It takes away memories. It takes away personalities. It can be argued that Alzheimer’s essentially takes away a person’s essence. And as almost...
Why the field’s biggest problem is not going away anytime soon
By
John O'Connor
Feb 08, 2016
There are many serious problems in long-term care: funding, regulations, legal concerns, staffing and more. But none of these is the biggest.
A note from SNFs to hospitals: Stay away from Misfit Island
By
John O'Connor
Jul 25, 2016
Hospitals need to toughen up. Their impending new five-star rating system isn’t going to be the end of the world (at least, not for most of them). But if the experience of skilled nursing homes is...
Odds don’t favor another round of Obamacare
By
John O'Connor
Apr 23, 2012
The Supreme Court may be two months away from announcing whether President Barack Obama’s health care law is legal. But court watchers are already speculating on what will happen if the measure is...
Are you taking care of residents or conditions?
By
John O'Connor
Jun 17, 2013
Mr. Fogel quietly passed away last week at a Chicago-area nursing home. Most of the staff didn’t know he was in the building. Among the few who did, he was a resident with heart problems. What a...
For one glorious moment, a warped perspective makes sense — sort of
By
John O'Connor
Nov 07, 2016
If you look at America’s sports-addicted dynamic from a purely logical standpoint, it defies logic. Cities and states pull funds away from needed services in order to comfort the comfortable? In...
Long-term care providers selling health insurance? Don’t laugh
By
John O'Connor
Sep 14, 2015
Signature HealthCARE is known as a high-end provider of skilled care services. Starting next month, it will also begin selling health insurance. As unusual as that might seem, it may not be long before...
Chew on this: Obesity rates a challenge
By
John O'Connor
Jul 29, 2013
For any way you slice it, too many of us are lugging around excessive weight. And the problem is only getting worse. In 1962, the nation’s obesity rate was 13%. It now stands at 35.7%, according...
Voters give providers something to worry about
By
John O'Connor
Jun 08, 2012
GOP and Democratic strategists were watching the Wisconsin governorship recall race earlier this week as a possible harbinger of this fall’s presidential election. But that’s a shortsighted...