An aggressive new advanced directive would allow patients to decline food and water if they display signs of deep dementia. A New York group that supports aid-in-dying recently approved the new document. It allows individuals to note in advance that they’ll want to stop eating and drinking if they develop severe dementia. The controversial plan…
I am seeking info about rehab services in a swing bed setting. I know services need to be daily and require a skilled caregiver. Can OT or SLP alone meet the criteria without PT or nursing, if the need is daily? The easy answer is yes. We see no reason why providing rehab in a…
The Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services sought emergency powers to take over operations at 15 nursing homes in late March after New Jersey-based Skyline Health Care failed to make payroll. Earlier in the week, Nebraska sent 31 of Skyline’s nursing and assisted living facilities into receivership, also because of payroll shortcomings. Mission Health…
Prolonged exposure to caffeine has been linked to worsening Alzheimer’s symptoms — at least in mice, that is — by researchers in Spain. Caffeine might heighten behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, including delusions, hallucinations, irritability, anxiety and depression, the study’s lead researcher noted. Previous investigations have linked coffee to a lower risk of developing…
Medicare Advantage plans will receive a 3.4% uptick in federal payments in 2019. That’s nearly 90% more than the 1.84% increase proposed in February. Notice of the bigger raise came in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ 2019 final rate notice and call letter released in April. As many as one-third of Medicare beneficiaries…
A bankruptcy filing by Orianna Health Systems put at least nine wrongful death lawsuits against the company’s nursing homes on hold indefinitely. Orianna filed for bankruptcy in March. Operated by 4 West Holdings, the Tennessee-based company has a total of 42 nursing homes across seven states. Orianna plans to sell its 19 South Carolina and…
A new Kaiser study confirms what many skilled care operators already know. Occupancy levels are dipping as residents’ conditions are getting worse. Investigators found nearly half of the nation’s nursing home residents had a dementia diagnosis, while just under a third had other psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia or mood disorders. About two-thirds of residents…
If Iowa’s experience privatizing Medicaid is an indicator, the movement might proceed with a little more caution. The independent Iowa Office of Ombudsman reported that the state’s privatized Medicaid program saw its number of complaints nearly triple last year. In the program’s first year, 2016, there were 85 complaints. Last year, the number jumped to…
Long-term care facilities are in desperate need of more trained professionals as the population continues to age, and the vendor and education communities are looking to help. Georgia Southwestern State University, for one, just announced that it is rolling out what it says is a “first-of-its-kind” degree for long-term care leaders this fall. The Americus,…
Certified nursing assistants have one of the highest reported rates of injury across the country and particularly in Ohio, according to a review of injury data and first-person stories reported in April by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Nursing assistants are injured three times more often than the average worker, researchers and government statistics show. In…
