Sherrie Dornberger, RNC, CDONA, FACDONA, executive director, NADONA
My administrator and board want my nursing staff to look at the number of nursing hours per resident and cut those hours. Is there any place where I could find out the average number of nurse hours per resident day in certified nursing facilities, and how many facilities are in each state?
Yes. As a matter of fact, this question just came up at our state DON meeting. 
You can find the answers to both of your questions at www.statehealthfacts.org. This site also has many other interesting facts, such as the number of facilities with no deficiencies, the percentage with serious deficiencies, the number of nursing home residents, the number of medical errors, the type of payer sources, and more. 
You can look up any state you are interested in learning about. Long-term care is just a small part of this site. Check it out. 
It may make some parts of your job a little easier.

I am new to doing the new MDS and I’m wondering about what I should be worried about, and when.
The new MDS version 3.0 is schedule to take effect Oct. 1, 2009. You can find a whole time frame of dates, meetings, training sessions, and details to get you prepared for the implementation, at 
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NursingHomeQualityInits/Downloads/MDS30Timeline.pdf.
Training for even veteran MDS nurses is either already ongoing, or should begin soon, so this is not a bad time to be jumping in to the mix. There will be changes for everyone to deal with.
Staff cannot begin to be trained in resource utilization group changes until CMS publishes what’s new with them – either later this year or early in 2009.
For now, get yourself as well versed in MDS 2.0 as possible. It can only help in the long run.