An anecdote that touches on the impact of where residents are placed within the facility, the value of consistent staffing and the importance of “leaning in” to meet residents where they’re at emotionally.
Capturing acuity: How MDS accuracy has a critical impact on Medicare/Medicaid payment systems
By
Steven Littlehale
Apr 20, 2012
There’s a familiar saying in the industry that “If it’s not documented, then it’s not done.” But what if it is documented, but just not documented correctly?
The growing cost of compliance in long-term care
By
Michael K. Loucks
Nov 09, 2010
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will expand compliance-related regulations for skilled nursing facilities.
Reimagining patient care through process automation
By
Mark Candiotti
Sep 04, 2019
By digitally transforming this process, we eliminated repetitive, manual tasks once required of managerial therapists, creating more time for them to focus on providing the best possible patient care.
Payment reform: Ready! Set! Don’t go! No, I mean go!
By
Steven Littlehale
Apr 23, 2018
Perhaps you think that the new therapy-payment bombshell (RCS-1) has turned out to be a dud. I hope to make the point that it was not.
Vulnerabilities with fire protection and life safety systems
By
Stan Szpytek
Jun 12, 2023
Life safety in skilled nursing facilities that provide care and compassion to some of our nation’s most vulnerable residents is in part based on the presence of sophisticated fire protection and life...
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?
Sometimes a carrot is really a stick … but sometimes it’s 24-karat gold!
By
Steven Littlehale
Nov 27, 2017
We all yearn for a time when value-based purchasing (and care) loses its originality. A time when motivations for providing excellent care and achieving excellent resident outcomes are aligned with reimbursement.
A natural evolution of the MDS coordinator: Nurse Informaticist
By
Steven Littlehale
Oct 27, 2017
Jennifer Gross, BSN, RN-BC, RAC-CT, fascinates me. Most recently, she completed a graduate certificate program in informatics, a subject that is playing a critical role in the explosion of health information...
Strategies for improving medication management in LTC, Part 2
By
Dorris Yee
Sep 07, 2016
In my last blog, we identified room for improvement in reducing the number of preventable adverse drug events in the LTC setting