How LTC facilities can use communication technology to avoid compliance traps
By
Gary Hamilton
Frances Carroll
Apr 02, 2024
“If it is not documented, it is not done” is a fundamental rule of healthcare. For those who work in long-term care (LTC) and skilled nursing, a relevant version of this rule is, “If a staff member...
Inventive languages
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Nov 08, 2022
My family tells me that when I was a very little girl, I apparently had a proclivity for creating my own language that only my older sister could interpret. It took some coaching but eventually I adapted...
Staffing challenges: A time to look inward
By
Steven Littlehale
Sep 16, 2022
As the Biden administration marches toward some type of minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes, it’s easy for providers to feel like helpless, angry victims. Even as a proponent of acuity-based...
Chat up your in-house counsel
By
Elizabeth Newman
Feb 10, 2017
Sessions at the LeadingAge Institute covered the need to have documentation and delegation to reduce nursing liability, and another reflected an in-house counsel’s perspective on hot legal topics.
Top 10 ways to avoid litigation
By
Davis Frye and Bradley W. Smith
Apr 18, 2014
In nursing home lawsuits, plaintiffs are often unhappy family members of residents who have experienced falls, pressure wounds, unexplained injuries or death. In our practice defending long-term care facilities,...
Asking for the medical record
By
Steven Littlehale
Jan 29, 2014
Millions of dollars have been paid by nursing homes who unsuccessfully defended themselves against incomplete or absent documentation. There are not as many legal guidelines regarding medical records maintenance...
Cracking the code
By
John Hall
Jul 01, 2013
Long-term care administrators and nurses are under pressure to train staff to assess and document skin conditions to keep patients out of the hospital.
How to document for rehabilitation work objectively
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Jun 04, 2013
As the scrutiny continues to increase on rehabilitation documentation, finding ways to document objectively has become a major focus for just about everyone involved.
The three C’s are the key!
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Mar 26, 2013
How do you justify the reason for rehab, length of stay and intensity of treatment? You turn to the 3 C’s.
‘The therapy caps are back!!!’
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Apr 05, 2012
Are the therapy caps back? Well, sort of. Here’s a quick summary of the current regulations that were recently passed and how they affect you.