Ask the legal expert … how to avoid deadbeat families
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Nursing Home
Expanded surveys will focus on staffing, MDS coding
Special surveys to determine Minimum Data Set coding accuracy and nursing home staffing levels will occur nationwide in 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in an Oct. 31 memorandum. A five-state pilot of the focused surveys concluded in August, and there were deficiencies reported on 24 out of 25, according to CMS.
Also in the news for Nov. 4, 2014 . . .
Health center owner fined $43 million in nursing home patient recruiting scam … CMS defines “one-on-one” provider training … Men shorter than five-foot-five are 50% more likely to die from dementia … UK docs to begin telling patients their ‘brain age’
Also in the news for Nov. 3, 2014 . . .
$37 million settlement makes Dignity the latest large hospital system to pay out for observation stay charges … Vibrating insoles could reduce falls among seniors … Audit shows 11,000 unresolved nursing home complaints in CA
Proposed managed care rule could accelerate shift away from nursing home care, official suggests
Proposed regulations slated for early 2015 likely will affect how Medicaid managed care balances home- versus facility-based long-term care, news sources reported Wednesday.
Adjust residents’ hearing aids before they listen to music, researcher advises
Nursing home residents might get more enjoyment and therapeutic value out of music if they change hearing aid settings, recently published findings suggest.
Protein wafers help nursing home residents gain weight, fight pressure ulcers and diarrhea
Easy-to-chew protein wafers can help nursing home residents gain weight and reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers and diarrhea, according to findings recently published in Age and Ageing.
New hospice comparison tool uses government info, Washington Post calls for more transparency
In the absence of a hospice consumer guide from the government, The Washington Post has created one using available Medicare data. The newspaper unveiled the quality tool Sunday, in an article criticizing a lack of transparency around hospice quality.
Judge approves $38 million settlement in ManorCare case
HCR ManorCare will pay $38 million under a legal settlement recently approved by a judge in West Virginia. The award to plaintiffs was originally $91 million until the state Supreme Court reduced it in June.
Nursing home asked for employee’s personal information too often, jury rules
The human resources department of a Maine nursing home did not properly protect a former employee’s personal identification information, a jury recently ruled.
