In recent times, federal deficit spending has only gotten worse. But now that it appears there are some bright spots, it's a bad thing? Depends on whom you talk to.
Whether you are an employee, resident, citizen or member of another group, you can learn from the lessons I've learned while exhaustively investigating a story about running and saving county nursing homes in America.
If you hang around long enough, you learn there are only two things long-term care providers fear after Republicans and Democrats. That would be hospitals and doctors.
The "For Sale" sign outside my grandmother's house caught me by surprise last Saturday.
You know it is not going to go well when the person you're interviewing starts off by asking, "How much work can I miss before I get fired?" You ever have one of those? Yet that's probably not the worst I've heard.
By now you've heard plenty about Medicare sequestration cuts. But you might not realize that some projects not only survived cuts, but they are getting money for projects while more important ones are slashed.
Operators must create a great experience for the physician, but patient flow should be a two-way street. While meeting the needs and wishes of residents must always come first, there can be multiple ways to strengthen the relationship.
Assisted living companion services and the relationship between the community and the company is not always articulated and formalized. Policies and procedures, especially related to emergency response, are not discussed and agreed to with third-parties and visitors. This creates a gray area of liability.
Here's a little medical news that made me sit up straight: People with really bad posture are much more likely to eventually need help with activities of daily living (ADL), according to research published in the Journals of Gerontology.
Imagine if CNN, the most trusted name in news, decided to report on the disappearance of a bottle of window cleaner from a nursing home supply closet. We would first be told it was really several gallons and possibly radioactive, and that window cleaner can be used to build a bomb. And that would be just the start.
While CMS tries to figure out how to proceed with the manual medical review process, we continue to track our caps and apply our modifiers. In the meantime, has anyone noticed how our typical Medicare Part B patients have become more medically complex than just a few years ago?
As a long-term care therapy consultant, I work on a lot of claim reviews and denials management with my clients. I've also read a lot of peer-review research articles related to this subject, and have compiled a list of common mistakes that cause denials. Here's my Top 10 list.
