April, 2014:

• Beyond 'Busy': Meaning making and engagement in therapeutic activities
• Guided by our North Star: Re-starting a company
• Early to bed, early to rise ... makes us better in ethicists' eyes
• Jimmo implementation is troubled, long-term care expert says
• Current quality measures are unfair to providers serving economically disadvantaged populations, National Quality Forum tells CMS
• People with dementia are 20% more likely to be rehospitalized, antipsychotic use increases risk, researchers find
• MHA adds Siciliano
• Brookdale, HCP to create $1.2 billion CCRC venture
• HD Supply releases catalog
• New diabetes screening device used in clinical trial
• Kickstarter campaign launched for solution to broken cables
• Briggs partners with //SOS/ Corporation
• Sentenced to a nursing home
• Kindred ranked on InformationWeek Elite 100
• Rational recognizers partners
• Liason partners with AOD
• MidCap Financial closes deal with StoneGate Senior Living
• Berkadia arranges for $146 million in seniors housing deal with Brookdale
• Cambridge Realty Capital Companies arranges $12.6 million loan for assisted living facility
• This American Life ... and death: Superb shows about hospice
• Nursing home yoga therapy could reduce urinary incontinence in women, researchers suggest
• Pharmacy owner pleads guilty to paying nursing homes for unused meds in $2 million scheme
• Strong professional relationships could reduce unnecessary hospitalizations from nursing homes, study suggests
• Reducing the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning
• Is a therapy pool worth it?
• Plan of correction can be anything but, as this provider learns the hard way
• Listening to religious music can improve mental health in older adults
• Aggressive lobbying keeps seniors on Lucentis, prevents Medicare savings, USA TODAY article states
• Legislation would protect nursing home investors
• Seidman begins at Avalere
• Reducing overtime expenses
• Transforming communities with the household model of care
• Eden international conference lands in Music City
• Some nursing home operators may soon discover it's not so easy to hide
• Frozen fecal transplants cure C. diff, could be a game-changer, researchers say
• Employers face monthly fees of $260 per worker if they don't offer Affordable Care Act-compliant insurance plans, analysts say
• Dramatic drop in hospital inpatient readmissions cannot be explained by a shift to observation stays, researchers find
• Caldwell joins MediTract
• Daughtery named LaSalle Group director of finance
• Hunter appointed executive director
• Using the Internet to reduce depression
• Long-term care nurses often 'scramble' to get family members' blessing for palliative care, research shows
• $2 million HIPAA settlement highlights mobile device risks facing healthcare providers
• Double homicide at Houston nursing home; victims' roommate arrested
• The human factor makes the hero
• The value of attending national Open Door Forum calls
• A jolt to long-term care best practices, amid the Ivy
• Jonathan Blum, who oversaw long-term care reforms, resigns as head of Medicare
• Cipro and related antibiotics increase MRSA risk in long-term care facilities, study shows
• Skilled nursing facilities with poor quality ratings do not readmit more patients to hospitals, researchers find
• Palliative possibilities: Therein lies the rub
• Miller consults with Five Star
• Nurse technology contest seeks applications
• Accessory for swimming approved for cochlear implants
• Non-Invasive Open Ventilation System approved
• New report for patient safety
• American HealthTech passes ICD-10 claim test
• Kaba Access and Data Systems Americas introduces new series of keys
• COMS partners with Remedy
• Nice-Pak Products and PDI celebrate Earth Week with solar system
• Southview among communities with loans
• MedProperties and Equity team up to build Florida SNF
• Joerns, RecoverCare to merge
• Kisco Senior Living breaks ground in NC
• States can designate more nursing homes in urgent need of quality improvement, government says
• Charges that Omnicare disguised nursing home kickbacks as charitable contributions can proceed, federal judge rules
• Special surveys on dementia care, Minimum Data Set coding will launch by mid-year, CMS announces
• Is 'person-centered care coordinator' the next must-have staff member?
• Performance data helps providers in Georgia
• Management of Diabetes in the Long-Term Care Setting
• Final rate notice signals continued pressure on Medicare Advantage payments
• Cost of doing business about to rise for many providers
• Aggression strongly signals pain only when dementia reaches advanced stages, researchers find
• Former CNA gets 16-year prison sentence for stealing nursing home residents' identities
• Nursing home administrators do not believe that pay-for-performance improves care quality or facility profitability, survey shows
• Pest management starts on the outside
• Top 10 ways to avoid litigation
• Diabetes summit explores clinical, therapeutic targets
• When it comes to fixing long-term care, it's time to start thinking outside the tank
• 'Minor' issues at the nursing home can cause disastrous care transitions, expert warns
• RACs were 'most improved' healthcare auditors for getting back money in 2013, government report states
• Long-term care facilities approach 80% worker flu vaccination rate after handing power to regional pharmacy, AHQR reports
• Battling depression: Advice on how to make seniors feel valued by others
• Maytag selects DeJong
• Beal promoted to Kindred Nursing Center Division President
• The potential break-up between hospitals and long-term care
• Shortchanging the Older Americans Act has led to unnecessary nursing home placements, senators say
• PharMerica to pay $200,000 settlement over federal charges of unsafe dispensing practices
• Septicemia, urinary tract infections rank high on latest list of hospital readmissions causes
• Asking about end-of-life care when patients can still answer
• Bundled payment: A potentially lost opportunity for providers
• A time for nursing homes to embrace the cheddar while they can
• MS patients less tense and pessimistic in nursing homes than at home, study finds
• Government would pay seniors to create advanced directives under Senate bill
• Hospitals slap the government with lawsuits over 'two-midnight' policy to reduce observation stays
• Aviv REIT offers public stock
• NCAL unveils 2014 Assisted Living Week logo
• New healthcare educational catalog available
• New lighting controls offer options for design
• Grace Healthcare, Senior Lifestyle Corporation choose Redilearning
• Remedi SeniorCare receives Ohio approval for interface with Optimus
• Apollo Safety forms special healthcare division
• Briggs Healthcare announces partnership with myCNAjobs
• ViaQuest acquires Indiana operations of TriStar Home Health and Hospice
• LaSalle Group opens Oklahoma Autumn Leaves memory care community
• Berkadia secures nearly $44 million in SNF financing
• Nurses Day — a picture of perseverance
• Blueprint Healthcare adds associate
• What Chipotle can teach long-term care
• Visitor shot and killed on the grounds of an assisted living community in Kansas
• Proposed Life Safety Code updates encourage more homelike environments
• Long-term care providers achieved 15% antipsychotic reduction goal, CMS announces
• Integrating mind, body and spirit
• Additional nursing home inspection rules are not the answer
• CMS: Hospice quality reporting to begin July 1, will require admission and discharge records
• Skilled nursing edges toward 90% occupancy, absorption rate makes first gain in nearly a decade, NIC data shows
• Bill would create 'advanced aide' positions in nursing homes to improve transitions, dementia care
• Pain: An LTC rehab perspective
• Is technology radical, or just common sense?
• Premature obituaries about nursing homes unfair, off the mark
• National political, military and space heroes highlight ALFA conference agenda; registration underway
• Nursing homes send too many dementia residents to the hospital in their last year of life, study finds
• House members request $200 million to increase long-term care, geriatric medicine workforce
• Hospitals worried about readmissions should focus on nearby nursing homes' pressure ulcer stats, study suggests
• Sebelius resigns as administration touts ACA enrollment numbers
• Doerhoff promoted at Life Care Centers
• Bare promoted at Premier Senior Living
• Long-term (care) anxiety at bargain prices
• Were the nursing home strippers really a bad idea?
• US dementia strategy overlooks transitions into and out of nursing homes, analysts find
• CMS releases Medicare physician payment information, includes some nursing home affiliations
• Higher acuity residents drove skilled nursing home bed prices to record levels in 2013, report finds
• Technology and resident safety focus in May 7 webinar
• Focusing on technology for resident independence and confidence
• Groups to find out if Obamacare is their golden ticket
• Close to 1,000 nursing home investigation complaints in LA open for more than 2 years, audit finds
• Strippers hired at NY nursing home, violated resident's rights, lawsuit alleges
• OIG changes its mind on referral services discounts
• High stakes and rewards at ACHCA Convocation
• Assisted Living Concepts becomes Enlivant
• New blood glucose meter arrives
• Enduratex announces Orient
• Telairity creates new encoder products
• Ansell kicks off HERO awards for nurses
• Caremerge announces partnership with Care Technology Systems
• Team SCA adds new member
• PSA Insurance & Financial Services acquires risk management firm
• SureCare RX opens new facility in Washington
• Episcopal Communities & Services announces financing for MonteCedro
• MidCap Financial closes three deals
• Ryan moves to SCA North America
• Ready, set ... Just kidding! (ICD-10 adventures continue)
• Community connections and quarters: How one nursing home responded to a 45-day water crisis
• Connecticut, New York top sites with most expensive private nursing home room
• OIG spends $75M on Medicaid oversight, recommends cost-saving measures
• Skilled nursing facilities could lose big money if they don't hire a managed care coordinator, expert says
• Diagnosing cash flow problems in a SNF
• Paying for long-term care not unlike The Babysitter problem
• Theft from Michigan long-term care ombudsman jeopardizes HIPAA-protected information of 2,500 people
• Senators press for SNF survey changes in light of adverse events report
• Nurses who don't pay taxes or student loans could trigger penalties for SNFs, expert says
• Why LTC organizations should conduct end-of-life planning conversations
• Preparing for managed care
• What hostile work environment? The doctor only groped her once
• Long-term care administrators 'on a roll' at annual conference
• Same-sex married couples now have expanded Medicare enrollment options, HHS announces
• HCR ManorCare worker negligence led to hepatitis C outbreak, residents charge in federal lawsuit
• Tornado shelters should be installed in nursing homes, government agency recommends in report on Joplin disaster
• The Eldercare Method: Using psychology for positive outcomes
• End-of-life decisions may cause confusion, anger
• Advance directives reach record levels, but this does not lead to more hospice use, researchers find
• CA nursing home withheld overtime pay, forced workers to alter time cards, federal lawsuit charges
• Median cost of a private nursing home room now exceeds $87,000 a year, Genworth survey finds
• Beacon Hill chooses executive chef
• Pennrose promotes Resciniti
• Tape 101: Making it stick
• Spacely Sprockets and the future of medical care
• 'The Best Days' — a best read
• Vibration could heal chronic diabetic wounds, researchers find
• Emergency prep rule for long-term care should specify amount of supplies to have on hand, advocacy group says
• Ryan budget proposal would hurt nursing home residents on Medicaid, critics charge
• Self-esteem, the universe, and checks and balances for all of us
• Smartphones, tablets may help smokers quit
• New door handle takes tech world by storm
• Drive Medical introduces bariatric rollator
• WeMontage provides removable wallpaper
• Lintech, HCS Software among companies that pass ICD-10 transition testing
• SCA recognized as ethical company
• Sherpa debuts as senior housing lead tracking tool
• Oak Grove Capital named top seniors housing lender
• Augustana Care announces new partnership
• Berkadia originates $86M package for 15 senior housing properties
• Lancaster Pollard involved in $30.5 financing deal with NCR; works with Eskaton
• Ziegler closes $73.5M in financing for Texas community
• 2014 Professional Development Guide
• Mace moves to NIC
• Nursing home workers could better communicate with family over 'gray area' decisions during late-stage dementia, study suggests
• Medicare manual revision addresses civil monetary penalty policies, survey timeframes
• Obama budget cuts provider payments
• CMS requests survey buildup
• Audits paused, providers glad
• Feds looking to QAPI, not penalties, for help
• Staffing, quality link found shaky
• New test for Alzheimer's
• Flu shot cuts stroke risk 24%
• White House spending plan less than industry hoped for
• 22% of beneficiaries return to hospital
• 60 seconds with ... Leonard Gelman, M.D., CMD
• Self-reporting may forewarn memory problems in future
• Website debuts for HIV-positive seniors
• Ask the care expert ... about INRs
• Foot ulcer healing rate jumps 50% in first-of-its-kind trial
• Study: Diabetes often precedes wounds
• Ask the treatment expert ... about timing negative pressure wound therapy
• AMDA to allow NPs, physician assistants as full members
• Physical demands on CNAs differ by shift
• Ask the nursing expert ... about ICD-10's impact on nurses
• Feds recover $10 million in incorrect Medicaid payouts
• MDS insight found lacking
• Ask the payment expert ... about Medicare technical requirements
• Brookdale, Emeritus merger upends status quo, CEO says
• Ensign split hurts earnings
• BusinessBriefs
• ICD-10: LTC must get ready
• I couldn't live without ... PointClickCare Secure Conversations
• ITUpdate
• State News
• Supreme Court to hear case sparked by Omnicare deals
• Extrapolation for overpays OK, court says
• Ask the legal expert ... about screening for sex offenders
• How to do it ... Resident security
• Trouble with success
• Some good news (from MedPAC !): Quality rising
• A miracle of reflection
• Big data headaches
• Inspiring motivation
• Day in the Life: Sniffing out wandering residents
• Profile: Mastering by example
• 2014 April Buyer's Guide: Laundry/Housekeeping
• Senate passes 'doc fix' bill that links skilled nursing facility payments to hospital readmissions, delays ICD-10
• Nursing homes demonstrate health information exchange, Minnesota style