Non-Profit

One new federal bill would expand the scope of disaster relief to include for-profit nursing homes, while another would help fund the installation of sprinkler systems.

Directors of nursing at assisted living facilities saw a slight pay increase in the last year. Their national average salaries rose to $60,000 in 2008 from $59,627 in 2007, according to the eleventh annual 2008-2009 Assisted Living Salary & Benefits Report.

Nonprofit nursing homes provide a higher quality of care than for-profit facilities, according to an analysis by USA Today of the first ratings of nursing homes by the government's five-star rating system.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one of the nation's largest healthcare foundations, plans to award $2.3 million in grants for research to improve the quality of nursing care in America.

Fifteen U.S. senators are urging the agency in charge of the nation's digital TV transition to fast-track a rule that would help nursing home residents and others who live in care homes to obtain converter boxes. The seniors were left out of an original government coupon mailing because they do not have home addresses, according to a statement from one of the lawmakers.