Both employers and employees are paying more for healthcare, according to several recent surveys chronicling the rise and fall of employer-sponsored healthcare rates and premiums over the last year.

Nursing homes may want to turn their attention to hospitals, which are trying a new method to retain and recruit nurses. Instead of offering financial incentives, they're improving job satisfaction, according to The Washington Post.

While executives were hobnobbing at the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industry conference Thursday, just across the street seven members of the Service Employees International Union held signs criticizing assisted living provider Atria Senior Living.

Authors from several healthcare organizations have developed a code to protect the rights of foreign-educated nurses, including those who work in long-term care.

Most nursing assistants in nursing homes enter the field to help others, according to the National Nursing Assistant Survey, a detailed sampling of the attitudes and opinions of nursing assistants. Released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the survey was prepared by the Division of Health Care Statistics, Long-Term Care Statistics Branch.

Another state is putting limits on the numbers of hours nurses have to work. New York Gov. David Paterson (D) recently signed legislation banning mandatory overtime for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses in nursing homes, hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

The aging baby boomer population will strain long-term care resources, including the direct-caregiver workforce, according to Better Jobs Better Care. A new report from the research initiative offers an in-depth analysis of this critical caregiver population, and how to recruit and retain them.

Sens. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Pete Domenici (R-NM) are urging Congress to pass the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act, which would provide funding to all 50 states to help create a nationwide infrastructure of background checks in the long-term care field.

Nursing-home providers this week expressed approval for legislation recently approved by a House committee that would increase the number of foreign-educated nurses in the U.S.

A new bill introduced in Congress this week would help small businesses, including independent nursing homes and other healthcare providers, form health insurance cooperatives to provide their employees with affordable health insurance.