August 2016 37 8 Issue of McKnight's Long Term Care News
August 2016 edition of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
Where are they now?
Where are they now: Abramson Center for Jewish Life
After winning a McKnight's Excellence in Technology Gold award in the High Tech/High Touch category in 2014, Abramson Center for Jewish Life's Karen Eshraghi and ...
News
Expert: Skills testing crucial
Improving employee competency testing in long-term care can help reduce rehospitalizations and workplace injuries, while improving overall resident care, an industry expert emphasized recently.
HIPAA calls it: Phone theft costs $650,000
Federal regulators lowered the boom on the former owner of several nursing homes after an iPhone containing the medical records of more than 400 residents ...
SNF room price averages $92k
Alaska leads the U.S. in the highest cost of nursing home care, according to a new report that found national average costs for a semi-private ...
More prep for end-of-life care
Nearly half of California nursing home residents have engaged in end-of-life planning, according to a new study.
MRSA rate falls due to tracking
An electronic hand hygiene monitoring system is responsible for a 42% decrease in MRSA infections in one health system, an analysis finds.
Obama lauds change in payment schemes
The next president and congressional leaders should continue to promote value-based purchasing and alternative payment models, President Barack Obama said in an academic article last ...
McKnight's earns APEX Grand
McKnight's Long-Term Care News earned a Grand Award and three Awards of Excellence at the 28th annual Awards for Publication Excellence contest.
LTC population is growing more diverse
The long-term care population has branched out further in age and ethnicity over recent decades, according to new research published in late June in JAMDA: ...
Top CCRC posts see salary increases, report discovers
Directors of nursing at continuing care retirement communities now make an average annual salary of $92,680, according to a new report.
State News
State News for August 2016
A proposal that would have dramatically increased fines and oversight of Massachusetts nursing homes was rejected by state lawmakers in late June.
Features
Room for improvement
Therapists and nursing homes are still looking for reimbursement — and clarity — 4 years after the landmark Jimmo settlement set the caregiving community abuzz.
Make it a clean sweep
Laundry and housekeeping staff are key to survey success; they buff a provider's record or can be the source of embarrassing, costly survey findings
60 Seconds with...
60 Seconds with ... Judith A. Stein, JD
What are some of the challenges involving seniors and outpatient observation stays in hospitals?... with Center for Medicare Advocacy's Executive Director, Judith A. Stein, JD
Ask the care expert
Ask the Care Expert about ... prevalence of infections in LTPAC
It seems like we are now making a bigger deal out of infections in long-term post-acute care settings than before.
Resident care
Many with stroke risk get wrong drugs
More than one-third of people at risk for stroke are given the wrong medications, according to a recent study.
Ask the treatment expert
Ask the Treatment Expert about ... how pressure injury staging descriptions have changed
In addition to the change in terminology from pressure ulcer to injury, NPUAP's April 13, 2016, press release announced refined descriptions of pressure injury (ulcer) ...
Wound care
Researchers 'reboot' tissue to accelerate wound healing
Tufts University researchers have for the first time reprogrammed skin cells from diabetic foot ulcers to make them more like stem cells.
Aging sweat glands delay wound healing
Sweat glands play an important roll in how skin heals from injury, but they don't work as well in seniors, say University of Michigan researchers.
Ask the nursing expert
Ask the Nursing Expert about ... the highlights of the MSDS system
What are the highlights of this new rule?
Nursing
Second chance helps nurses overcome language mandate
Amid the growing pressure of nursing staff shortages, an overseas healthcare regulator is relaxing its rules for language testing.
Providers competing on nursing shortage
With increased nursing demand on the horizon in the U.S., long-term care providers are now offering a wide variety of incentives to bring more nurses ...
Ask the payment expert
Ask the Payment Expert about ... how to calculate cost of care
Our referral hospital system is asking us what our cost of care is. How do I calculate that?
Payment & policy
Camera policies held up by privacy, litigation concerns
In the battle of pros and cons for placing cameras in resident rooms, the potential negative legal and privacy implications are winning out with most ...
Person-centered care saves
Skilled nursing operators can expect healthcare stakeholders to push for more person-centered care programs because of the wide savings they appear to offer payers.
Ask the legal expert
Ask the Legal Expert about ... disclosure of resident information
I trusted my software vendor but wound up having some resident personal information made available to the public. If a resident pursues a claim against ...
Legal Matters
SNF settles fraud, neglect suit for $28M
A New York skilled nursing facility has agreed to pay $28 million and implement reforms to settle a lawsuit alleging fraud, neglect and criminal conduct ...
Kindred wins whistleblower case: Docs not proven wrong
A Kindred Healthcare subsidiary claimed victory in June in a False Claims Act case brought by a former employee.
Design
Design Decisions: Not so common rehab
Tutera breaks mold on 'cookie-cutter' design with a new therapy center and an environment aimed at the entire LTC spectrum
How to do it…
How to do it... Physical restraints
Since passage of healthcare reforms in OBRA 1987, the incidence rate of resident restraints has dropped considerably, to less than 5%, with a mantra to ...
A day in the life
A Day in the Life: Happy Campers
Like many kids in the U.S., third graders from Jefferson Elementary School in Pasadena, CA, headed to camp this summer
Technology
Video consultations provide boost to SNF dementia care
When aggressive behavior occurs among dementia patients, nursing home staff often must resort to using physical restraints or prescribing powerful antipsychotic medications to reduce it.
Opinion
Shutting out the noise
As an occasionally obsessive hiker navigating the meandering trail of my existence, I'm constantly rediscovering it's a metaphor for everything — from life in general ...
Reader Poll: "What was your first job, and what did it teach you?
"My first job going into this particular field was an administrator-in-training, where I would come in and work in a nursing home."
Company news
Look for business guidance in claims data, expert says
Nursing home providers should use claims data to identify trends that may shift their business plans, one expert recommended in June.
Occupancy is steered by flu
Skilled nursing facilities experienced slightly increased occupancy rates in the first quarter of 2016, likely due to winter-related causes such as flu and falls, according ...
The big picture
Regulators gone wild
You probably don't need to be reminded that skilled care is a heavily regulated field. Some say only nuclear power operators must comply with more ...
Editor’s desk
Proof HIPAA stakes may be higher than you think
Like a kid who's staying up past his bedtime right in front of his parents' noses, long-term care operators have been enjoying a pass for ...
Profile
Profile: Israel Ray
During college, when Israel Ray ran track and field and specialized in the 110-meter hurdles, his coach noticed he would do whatever it took to ...
