There’s a saying that “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”
Proficiency matters
By
Steven Littlehale
Mar 04, 2016
An admired colleague once said, “If you want me to be proficient in caring for a specific type of patient, I can … just give me a lot of them.”
Reviewing RUG levels
By
Steven Littlehale
Sep 01, 2013
From the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual Chapter 8, we know rehabilitation skilled level of care requires the delivery of skilled therapy five distinct days a week. While this requirement is usually easy...
Focus on long-stay rates
By
Steven Littlehale
Sep 04, 2015
By now, everyone has heard the resounding drumbeat of 30-day rehospitalization rates. What is yours? Are you improving? Are you using the National Quality Forum’s endorsed method for calculating?
Where were YOU when CMS changed the Five-Star rating system?
By
Steven Littlehale
Mar 20, 2015
Some things will always stay etched in our mind. Where were you on February 12, when CMS publicly announced immediate changes to the Five Star Quality Rating System for Nursing Homes?
Beyond ‘document, document document’ — Risk mitigation strategies that work
By
Steven Littlehale
Feb 03, 2023
We encounter risk every day. Risk is present in the most innocuous actions, like crossing the street, walking into the supermarket, and even eating dinner. And as nursing home operators and providers well...
Analytically Speaking: Time to look at data
By
Steven Littlehale
Jan 03, 2012
Have you ever said, “I didn’t see it coming” or felt you were “drowning in data”? Do you use data to validate your actions or define your future strategies? Whatever the case,...
Portmanteau a PDPM parody
By
Steven Littlehale
Mar 15, 2019
Here’s how you use some humor to directly confront PDPM myths and nonsense, as well as suggest some authentic opportunities to provide and document better care.
Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
By
Steven Littlehale
Oct 14, 2022
It’s a curious day when I lift a lyric from the Spice Girls to title an article. The Spice Girls’ first single, “Wannabe,” was released in 1996 and rocketed to the top of the British singles chart....
Be measurably fabulous
By
Steven Littlehale
Oct 01, 2012
On the heels of American Health Care Association announcing the adoption of PointRight’s OnPoint-30 rehospitalization metric, you may be wondering what it means exactly and what’s at stake....