Guest Columns
You need to read this for at least one very solid reason: The need for transparency in caregiving will not diminish, nor will the demand decline from families for answers and partnership.
Short-term stay or respite care offers a great solution for seniors who are recovering from a hospital visit, surgery or other medical issue. While short-term rehabilitation is effective in addressing the acute medical issue that landed a senior there, there is a constant struggle to ensure they receive the support needed after they return home —because that support means…
As every practitioner and advocate within our broader long-term care space knows, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to break through the noise when it comes to engaging with and educating policymakers about the intrinsic value the long-term care community provides.
You know how sometimes you’re asked to speak on a subject with which you have years of experience? Then during your research you discover a wormhole that’s so much deeper and more concerning that you had previously thought when you agreed to take on this engagement? I do.
At a time when most county nursing homes are being bought by private organizations, our nursing home in Upstate New York has found a way to buck the trend and is receiving tremendous support from local government. Shaker Place Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, formerly Albany County Nursing Home, is currently undergoing an $80 million renovation…
Could this be your facility or one that you know? A marketing consultant visited a skilled nursing facility recently and was set back by the response she received. This was her experience: “To get inside, she had to walk along a circle drive. As she walked along the drive, she passed several residents sitting in…
“If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Reimbursement Reform’ on their lips would be boiled in their own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through their heart!” Ebenezer Scrooge hissed after the conclusion of a CMS Open Door Forum.
I thought I was prepared to face the loss of a thousand moments. I was not. I am not.
Skilled nursing providers will want to stay attentive, so they don’t find themselves in the same kind of controversy their assisted-living counterparts now are experiencing.
With Oct. 1 now in the rearview mirror, providers in the long-term care (LTC) industry, including nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), must adapt to new regulations that impact their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Providers across the U.S. have spent several months preparing for the implementation of the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM), created…
I want us to be at the front of the line in advancing to a higher quality of care for these residents. We’re missing the boat, we really are.
Skilled nursing facility leaders could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief now that the formal transition to the Patient-Driven Payment Model is behind them. Preparing for the biggest overhaul in Medicare reimbursements in two decades has been a challenging and stressful experience for the industry, where many facilities already operate on thin profit…
Seema Verma, administrator for The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is at it again with a proposed rule that purports “to eliminate state financing gimmicks that cost the federal government millions each year.” Verma is an expert on costly gimmicks. Prior to taking her federal role, she was paid $1.2 million to engineer Iowa’s…
During my days as a director of nursing, I sometimes found myself covering when someone else on staff called off. I remember being upset about one such shift when I had to “put on my big girl panties” and go do my job. But that night, I learned a valuable lesson from a resident named…
We’re not even two months in, and some very interesting trends for the Patient Driven Payment Model are beginning to emerge.
Another year is coming to an end, and with the cooler temperatures will come another cold and flu season. The timing could not be better to discuss the current overuse of antibiotics. Over half of the antibiotics currently prescribed are unnecessary or prescribed inappropriately. Often, antibiotics are prescribed for colds, coughs and sore throats that…
My blessing formula started with a genuine whining session that I was having with my boss. I was frustrated with the team I was leading.
Patients transitioning from acute to post-acute care have specific care needs, and the transition out of the hospital is the critical opportunity to identify high-quality providers that can best treat the patient. Knowing this, on Sept. 30, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized the discharge planning requirements of the IMPACT Act, addressing post-acute…
Hedonism isn’t necessarily the first term that comes to mind when thinking of senior care communities. Yet the word occasionally appears in research articles that relate to residential and community satisfaction, weaving in psychology, sociology and behavioral sciences. Let me reflect on two foremost dimensions of satisfaction: “pleasantness” (hedonic), “practicality” (utilitarian) and thirdly on “probability”…
We are all on the same voyage, one that took us through uncharted territory and into the Land of Payment Overhaul. We have made it safely ashore and are working hard to understand the society and adapt to their way of life. Just over a month ago, we accepted and adapted to the new Medicare…
