June 2013 34 6 Issue of McKnight's Long Term Care News

Top stories from the June 2013 issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News.

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Enjoy the thrill of victory

Our office has been one joyful place lately. Colleagues are excited, and the collective bliss has had nothing to do with an early start on ...

News

Forecast error costs SNFs $320 million

The nation's skilled nursing facilities can expect an aggregate $500 million boost in Medicare payments next year — $320 million less than the Centers for ...

Time is limited for ACO deals

By negotiating now, a nursing home can have a strong voice in an Accountable Care Organization. Otherwise, ACOs will come to nursing homes in two ...

CMS to revise audit practices

Here's the good news for providers dealing with Recovery Audit Program contractors: The federal government will make fewer additional document requests, starting this month. Now ...

Providers refocus on 15% drug reduction

Skilled nursing providers fell short of reaching a 15% reduction in off-label antipsychotic use by the end of 2012, the American Health Care Association formally ...

Report: UTIs over-flagged

Women over age 65 are being over-diagnosed with and over- treated for urinary tract infections, according to a new study. Rhode Island Hospital researchers examined ...

Depression tied to C. diff

Depressed or lonely people are at increased risk of Clostridium difficile infection, according to research in BMC Medicine.

McKnight's wins 7 more awards

For the fourth straight year, McKnight's Long-Term Care News was named the Gold Award winner for Best News Coverage in the annual ASHPE Awards. McKnight's ...

ACA-mandated cuts will not hit Medicare, official asserts

Because Medicare's growth rate will not eclipse a certain threshold, the program will be spared from potential Medicare cuts called for in the healthcare reform ...

Observation stay case debated in court

Government lawyers and opponents of Medicare's "observation stay loophole" recently squared off in federal court, when a judge convened the first hearing in the Bagnall ...

State News

A bill requiring nursing home workers to report elder abuse cleared both houses of the legislature and was sent to Gov. John Hickenlooper (D). SB ...

Features

Wound warriors

Providers keep up the good fight as they close care gaps on multi-drug resistant organism-infected wounds by seeking out the right treatment and product.

Catching bad bugs

New strains of drug-resistant pathogens are targets of more scrutiny among infection control professionals employed in long-term care environments.

60 Seconds with...

60 seconds with ... Rick Matros of Sabra REIT

Q: Some major REITs are trying to unload their skilled nursing homes, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. What's Sabra's position on SNFs?

Ask the care expert

Ask the care expert ... about the Morse Fall Scale

What is the Morse Fall Scale, and how it is different from others? Nursing fall-risk assessment, diagnoses and interventions are based on use of the ...

Resident care

Facilities need better reviews of antibiotic use, expert says

Skilled nursing facility administrators need to do a complete review of antibiotics to better combat multi-drug resistant organisms, an infection control expert said in May.

Exercise will not cure depression: study

While exercise has been shown to boost mental health among fit seniors and younger adults, a study out of the United Kingdom indicates mild exercise ...

Ask the treatment expert

Ask the treatment expert ... about identifying pressure ulcers

How do you deal with the age-old question "Is it a pressure ulcer or not?" Many healthcare professionals are frequently faced with the dilemma of ...

Wound care

Overlooked genes play a role in wound care healing: study

Eight genes that have been overlooked in the past appear to play a role in the healing of pressure ulcers and other wounds, according to ...

Nanoparticles in daily items pose danger

Pure gold nanoparticles found in everyday items such as personal care products can slow wound healing and accelerate skin aging, according to new research results.

Ask the nursing expert

Ask the nursing expert ... about hands-on patient assessments

I feel that much is missed when hands-on assessments are missed at the beginning of each nurse's shift. What do you think? I strongly feel ...

Nursing

Gen X members seek more degrees, other credentials

There's good news for long-term care facilities trying to hire staff with more education: More than 1 in 10 members of Generation X are taking ...

Anticholinergics impair seniors: report

Cognitive impairment can result when older adults are taking or given medications with strong anticholinergic effects, a new study has found.

Ask the payment expert

Ask the payment expert ... about quality and reimbursement correlations

How can the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services correlate quality of care and reimbursement? You always need to remember that Medicare is an insurance plan. ...

Payment & policy

CMS widens audits, hones in on Part A claims, expert says

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has increased its scrutiny of Medicare Part A filings recently and as a result, has reclaimed more funds ...

Case for bundled pay made

Large-scale bundling of government reimbursements is needed, say researchers who have studied the topic. Post-acute care was the fastest growing major healthcare spending category for ...

Ask the legal expert

Ask the legal expert ... about gun violence in facilities

A resident smuggles a gun into our facility and shoots a worker who, she says, has been treating her harshly or disrespectfully. What's our recourse?

Legal Matters

Ruling: No penalties mean no chance to appeal rating

Nursing homes that dispute a deficiency citation without Immediate Jeopardy and want it stricken from the public record should consider withholding a plan of correction, ...

$90M verdict is a deterrent, judge says

A $90 million penalty will stand in a case involving resident neglect and understaffing at an HCR ManorCare facility, a judge in West Virginia ruled.

Design

Greener pastures

After seven years, Greenfields of Geneva becomes a reality for Illinois seniors, featuring a luxurious setting overlooking a golf course.

How to do it…

How to do it... medication management

The proliferation of managed care is introducing a host of new challenges for long-term care providers. Pressures have never been greater to increase quality and ...

A day in the life

Roommates getting in the groove

If you hear jazz while you're at the Newark Extended Care Facility, it's probably coming from the room shared by John Griggs and John Lott.

I couldn't live without...

I couldn't live without ... Cerner CareTracker

Cerner's CareTracker has allowed Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America facilities to provide better resident-centered care, according to director of clinical information Jeanne Gerstenkorn, RN, BSN, MSN.

Technology

Partnership's mission is to help seniors get plugged in

Social media, email and other forms of communication technology offer senior citizens a virtual world of information, entertainment and correspondence with friends and family. Yet ...

ITUpdate

EHR problems are "worse than we know," a new report from the ECRI Institute contends. Transitioning from paper to electronic health records is creating problems, ...

Opinion

When it matters most

Pondering difficult end-of-life situations made me think, naturally, of Chevy Chase.

Company news

AdCare hires new CFO, mulls moves after financial errors

A turbulent spring at AdCare Health Systems Inc. included ongoing fallout from accounting errors that led to the appointment of a new chief financial officer, ...

REITs to shed skilled sites

Large real estate investment trusts are looking to get out of the skilled nursing sector, according to the Wall Street Journal.

BusinessBriefs

Extendicare Health Services recently completed a $37.7 million portfolio refinancing of six SNFs in the Midwest. Ziegler Financing Corporation closed the transaction.

Vendor news

Relias buys Care2Learn to strengthen e-learning role

Two years ago, Silverchair Learning Systems, Upstairs Solutions and Care2Learn operated as three separate e-learning firms. But they are all now part of the same ...

Lilly targets tau in Alzheimer's effort

Lilly is upping its bet on Alzheimer's. The Indianapolis-based drug maker announced it has licensed experimental tracers that can hone in on and mark tau ...

CompanyBriefs

» Status Solutions has expanded the alerting components of its Situational Awareness and Response Assistant (SARA) to include mobile dashboards, the company announced. SARA's eMessenger ...

Business & Marketing

Play to your strengths

Hospitals are penalized for high readmission rates, but you know that. Today's hospital penalty is determined by looking at Medicare beneficiaries leaving an acute care ...

Editor’s desk

Long-term care wants its own 'fix' if docs get one

If you hang around long enough, you learn there are only two things long-term care providers fear after Republicans and Democrats. That would be hospitals ...