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?
Why the survey system may never be fixed
By
John O'Connor
Sep 05, 2014
Given certain realities about skilled-nursing facility inspections, we should not be wondering why cheating has occurred. Rather, we should be amazed it hasn’t been more rampant.
What Election Day may spell for skilled care
By
Marty Stempniak
Oct 30, 2018
We’ve been talking about it for months and now the day of reckoning has almost arrived: Election Day is just one week away, and the stakes could be very high for the skilled nursing crowd. The makeup...
What is therapy? It’s not as simple as it might seem
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Aug 13, 2013
“What is therapy?” sounds like a simple question, but it requires a separate and very complex answer for each discipline.
CMS and providers have reason to celebrate
By
Elizabeth Newman
Sep 16, 2016
I encourage providers to pause and pat themselves on the back. That’s because 30-day hospital readmission rates have dropped in all states except one over the past five years.
Why be optimistic when anxiety is an option?
By
James M. Berklan
Aug 06, 2014
Depending on how you like to interpret the news, nursing home operators are either facing some of the worst of times, or they’ve been infused with new life.
Providers rewarded for sticking with it
By
James M. Berklan
May 02, 2018
One could excuse long-term care providers if they’re walking around looking over their shoulders right now. I can personally identify with that.
Progress in trying to undo the hospital ‘observation stay’ mess
By
James M. Berklan
Jul 31, 2013
What is this world coming to? When you complain about bizarre government conditions or regulations, you usually have to assume you’re just whispering into the wind.
Health IT not a panacea for what’s wrong in healthcare
By
Deborah Burger, RN
Jun 06, 2014
If you listen to the lobbyists for medical device manufacturers, health information technology is the answer to our biggest healthcare troubles. America’s registered nurses have a different perspective.
CMS gives providers a mug with a gift card
By
Elizabeth Newman
Nov 28, 2017
Never have Rolling Stones’ lyrics come faster into my head than when I saw the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would give an 18-month enforcement delay for certain Phase 2 regulations.