Another reason why clinicians shouldn’t underestimate housekeeping staff
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Mar 07, 2013
Each time I visited a restroom during a routine site visit, I noticed a very pretty toilet-paper flower there. It was made of toilet paper and folded into a flower, including the stem. It was then sitting...
5 rules of the rehab screen
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Feb 25, 2014
What is the purpose of a rehabilitation screen? Very simply, we attempt to identify long-term residents’ needs and possible rehab potential. Somehow, we don’t really have an industry standard...
A home-for-the-holidays checklist for therapy patients
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Nov 19, 2013
Well, it’s that time of year already. Hectic schedules, extra weekend shifts and holiday planning. It’s also time for rehab to spend some extra time discussing holiday plans with their patients....
GTB. AYS?
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Oct 22, 2013
Can anyone guess what the title to this blog is stating? In the current culture of text messaging and abbreviations for everything, it can be a danger zone for medical documentation. Unfortunately, I have...
What’s on Your PEPPER Report?
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Sep 10, 2013
Have you received your provider-specific PEPPER report yet? The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) were mailed on August 30 and have been slowly arriving at skilled nursing...
The G-codes are here for payment claims — ready or not
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
May 23, 2013
Effective July 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will begin rejecting claims received for Medicare Part B patients that do not include the new requirement of G-coding. That really means providers...
Pay for performance, medical necessity and Jimmo
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Jun 04, 2014
Why would anyone mention value-based reimbursement, medical necessity and the Jimmo lawsuit in the same sentence? I feel they are all related, but it will be difficult to find the perfect balancing act...
Palliative possibilities: Therein lies the rub
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Apr 22, 2014
When a patient is referred to therapy, and they are receiving hospice care, then therapy needs to seek permission from the hospice company to provide any treatment. Hospice is required to reimburse the...
Have we lost our connection to what’s important?
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Aug 15, 2014
We sometimes use high-minded phrases to describe our work and our hopes for our patients. But have we lost our connection to important words? Do they still hold meaning they once did, and if so, how strongly?
Clinical briefs for Tuesday, May 11
By
Alicia Lasek
May 11, 2021
Dementia diagnoses and mental health service use drop among elders during pandemic … Alzheimer’s patients’ depression scores rose after pandemic lockdown … Fully 71% of U.S. seniors now vaccinated...