Seniors in more impoverished areas of the country are significantly more likely to die after surgery than their wealthier neighbors, according to recent research.

The Commonwealth Fund has awarded a $474,000 grant to the steering committee of the Advancing Excellence campaign, a two-year campaign that aims to improve care in the nation's nursing homes.

While the focus of regulators' "Open Door Forum" conference call Tuesday might have first appeared to be about getting ready for the December rollout of a new nursing home ranking system, officials quickly made it clear much more was at stake.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will be hosting an "Open Door Forum" on Tuesday (tomorrow) to discuss, among other issues, the new five-star rating system for nursing homes.

Nursing home providers have intensified lobbying efforts against a proposed regulation that would reduce Medicare outlays to skilled nursing facilities by $770 million in fiscal year 2009.

Nursing homes received another quality drubbing last month after the Government Accountability Office revealed that state inspectors often understate deficiencies, including those about malnutrition, bedsores and abuse, in their annual facility inspection reports.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released its final rule concerning hospice care, despite a recent notice saying it would delay issuing such a rule until 2009.

The long-term care industry is still grappling with a House hearing criticizing nursing home quality and a report on problematic nursing home inspections that was released in conjunction with last Thursday's hearing.

Nursing homes that have adopted aspects of the culture change movement, or at least strive to, are more likely to see benefits in resident satisfaction, staff retention, higher occupancy rates and improved operational costs, according to a recently released survey of directors of nursing.

The Service Employees International Union has called into question the independence of HCR ManorCare's recently formed panel of quality advisers.