Long-Term Living Blogs
A clearer picture of assisted living nationwide
Because the government doesn’t have enough data on unregulated residential care facilities, the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the CDC, engaged assisted living and personal care home providers to partake in a 2010 survey on everyt…
Stepping out to stop Alzheimer’s; residents present $95,000 gift for staff
Alzheimer’s disease is not going away anytime soon and the number of those suffering from the affliction or other dementias is predicted to double by mid-century. In the hope of rerouting those numbers, the Alzheimer’s Association con…
Not home for the holidays
I have happy childhood memories of spending “ The Holidays ” with family. The circle included my mom and dad, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles and gaggles of shrieking cousins. This was in arctic Canada, and the icy cold outside made the…
10 top LTC news stories of 2011
What a rollercoaster ride this year it was for long-term care professionals. With no rest for the weary following last year’s transition to MDS 3.0, providers in 2011 faced waves of regulatory, economic and societal challenges that tested their adaptability and fortitude. Below are 10 of the top news stories that impacted the LTC industry in 2011:
What’s going on with nursing homes in the news?
There has been an unusually large amount of bad publicity for long-term care providers in local news media recently—a poorly timed coincidence, considering the industry is trying to sway public opinion with counter measures against a certai…
Geriatric nursing assistant brings home top honors
There is a special bond between a resident and their caregiver. A nursing assistant is the one who fulfills a variety of a resident’s needs—from transferring, assisting with mobility to even combing hair … well, you know better than I…
4 steps to overcoming a negative reputation
It is not uncommon for census and revenue challenges to result from issues that have negatively impacted your facility’s reputation. I knew a client who had changed its name, but the surrounding community still remembered the facility by its form…
Coordinated care model provides new staffing opportunities
Everyone’s talking about “care coordination” these days. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has just put $1 billion on the table to test new models of care that can deliver the triple aim: “better care, better…
A resident caught in the middle of employee disciplinary action
Last Wednesday the nurse aide students began two days of clinicals. Their instructor and the floor aides supervise the students, who are assigned residents, while the regular floor aides assist and care for those with special needs. Before break…
Leave no ‘odd man out’ at the dining table this holiday season
After recently teaching my dining class in a senior care community, I had an illuminating conversation with a resident. During the class I had mentioned that staff and administrators should learn the importance of setting the table mindfully. This resi…
Beating the ‘bug’
The flu bug, that is. This week (December 4-10) has been declared National Influenza Vaccination Week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 2005, the week highlights the importance of everyone six months and older to “get the f…
Future cuts may realistically push SNFs over the edge (and into the red)
Provider groups have been saying this for years: Skilled nursing facilities cannot survive another round of cuts. (Actually, it’s usually stated more like this. ) But how much of that statement is truth—and how much is hyperbole? Well, the …
Is your technology lagging behind?
Compared to other healthcare providers, the long-term care industry has been slower to adapt evolving technologies such as electronic health records, eMAR systems and clinical care technology, including rehabilitation and brain fitness technologies. A&…
Testing the tears
I don’t trust those “scientists.” Let me say that right up front. But rumor has it they’re working on a better way to do diabetes testing, and I say we give them the benefit of the doubt. Even though they’ve been wrong in …
A resident who helps out feels better about himself
Melvin (pseudonym) lives a couple of doors away from me. He is round, not very tall and bounces when he walks. He is usually animated and will try to carry on a conversation even if the other person is walking away. When he talks about the Bible and Go…
What To Do With Sex Offenders In Long-Term Care?
One of the first stories I tackled when joining Long-Term Living three years ago was a Q&A interview with patient care advocate Wes Bledsoe, who at that time was making headlines for supporting the creation of standalone LTC facilities that house sex offenders. Looking back, the interview ended up asking more questions than it answered, because regulators still haven’t figured out what to do with these people.
Accommodating A Resident By Bringing In Her Own Bed
A couple of months ago I asked if I could bring my home care bed to this facility. The administrator allowed it, but only if I replaced the cracked pendant controller and bought four locking wheels for safety.
Could reimbursement cuts be the impetus for lawsuit reform?
Long-term care providers are justly lamenting the harsh 11.1 percent Medicare reimbursement cuts that took effect on October 1. But in the ever-moving Yin and Yang of Congress, could those cuts help provide the political push needed for federal caps on…
A Patient-Centered Pragmatist May Take Helm of CMS
It came as no great surprise last week when Donald Berwick, MD, announced his resignation as administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Achieving a balance between healthy and homelike
In many senior care facilities across the country, Alzheimer’s treatment is finally taking a more common sense approach: effectively caring for the individual’s wants and desires to make their life as pleasant as possible. This means that if the …
