CMS: Surveyors looking for education, not expertise, under COVID-19 vaccine rule that starts today
By
Kimberly Marselas
May 21, 2021
Nursing homes will not be expected to turn their staff members into vaccine experts under a new rule that requires all workers to be offered COVID-19 shots and to be educated about them, a federal official...
This season, the gifts will just keep on comin’
By
Kimberly Marselas
Nov 17, 2021
There’s no more dreading what’s in the box, no fear that you’re getting some dud gift dressed up in the fanciest of double-sided wrapping paper.
Time to roll up those sleeves and mandate vaccines
By
Kimberly Marselas
Feb 24, 2021
For the last month or so, we’ve spotlighted successes from the COVID-19 vaccine front, trying to understand which strategies truly help providers drive up acceptance rates. Even the smallest details...
Nursing homes down 200K frontline workers, with more COVID cases on the way
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jun 29, 2021
The U.S. is facing a certified nurse aide shortage of about 200,000, with the situation made more dire by a surging number of unvaccinated aides being forced to quarantine with cases of a new COVID-19...
NIH head says full Pfizer vaccine approval could come this summer
By
Kimberly Marselas
Jul 20, 2021
Waiting for full federal approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is no reason to delay protection, the director of the National Institutes of Health said Monday, but those still holding out for the end...
BREAKING: CMS details vaccination targets in new mandate guidance
By
Kimberly Marselas
Dec 29, 2021
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Tuesday issued surveyor guidance on assessing long-term care facilities’ compliance with a federal mandate for healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccinations.
Governor’s team threatened nursing home licenses, fines in vaccine-ordering dust-up
By
Kimberly Marselas
Mar 31, 2021
Confusion over unclaimed COVID-19 vaccines led high-ranking New York officials to threaten penalties, license revocations and public shaming of nursing homes they may have wrongly considered at fault.
One more shot at being superhuman
By
Kimberly Marselas
Sep 15, 2021
Normally, my family spends Labor Day weekend at a rustic cabin in the wooded foothills of Western Maryland, nestled just between the Pennsylvania and West Virginia borders. There’s no TV, spotty (if...
An inside look at one state’s push to keep at least 90% of LTC residents vaccinated
By
Kimberly Marselas
May 07, 2021
Long-term care residents in Ohio were among the first in the nation to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. More than 1,500 facilities there are now participating in a state program that seeks to maintain momentum.
Providers are getting closer on the Drive to 75
By
Kimberly Marselas
Sep 14, 2021
At least one group of nursing homes has surpassed the 70% threshold when it comes to vaccinating staff.