October 2013 34 10 Issue of McKnight's Long Term Care News

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

Analysis

Admin earn $95K, while DONs top $82K

SNF administrators are seeing the biggest hike, although all nursing home staff saw increases in their paychecks this year. Yet economists warn the trend might ...

News

Fewer residents given antipsychotics: CMS

Fewer residents with dementia are being prescribed antipsychotic medications, according to new figures heralded by the government and the nation's largest nursing home association.

GAO: Clean up claims reviews

Government investigators claim — and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services concurs — that more consistency is needed with Medicare post-payment claims reviews.

Berwick blasts three-night rule

Add former Medicare chief Donald Berwick to the growing list of critics of a federal rule requiring three consecutive nights' stay as a hospital inpatient ...

Expert: Future partners will likely be doc groups

Skilled nursing providers should build partnerships with physician groups but need to stay abreast of legal frameworks, according to experts who spoke at McKnight's Fall ...

LTC campaign revamps goals

The Advancing Excellence campaign is calling on skilled nursing providers to use a set of updated goals to create a framework for achieving better care.

C. diff results stay the same

High and low dosages of a popular antibiotic are equally good at combating Clostridium difficile infections, according to a new study.

Hand washing takes a break

A third of Medicare/Medicaid-certified long-term care providers surveyed by The Joint Commission during the first half of this year didn't meet basic hand hygiene requirements, ...

Facilities approach 15% goal for antipsychotics reduction

For decades, many providers have viewed antipsychotic drugs as a necessary evil for treating residents with dementia. But increasingly, these medications are just being seen ...

Sprinkler system citations now in effect

Nursing homes without a full sprinkler system installed and functioning are now subject to deficiency citations, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

State News

NEW JERSEY — A "bill of rights" for independent living residents of continuing care retirement communities hit the governor's desk after passing out of the ...

Features

Interest-ing times

As interest rates slowly nudge upward and public financing agencies remain under scrutiny, analysts look at the ramifications for skilled nursing and seniors housing

Biggest losers

Providers reveal strategies for reducing unneccessary antipsychotics use for residents with dementia, and meeting industry-wide medication reduction goals

60 Seconds with...

60 seconds with ... NQF leader Christine Cassel, M.D.

Q: You've been at the National Quality Forum since July, bringing deep experience in geriatric medicine to the work of creating and reviewing quality measures. ...

Ask the care expert

As the care expert ... about inhaler lifespans

If inhalers do not have a counter on the unit that tells us how many metered doses are remaining, we never know about discarding or ...

Resident care

Dementia patients face risk of urinary, fecal incontinence

Seniors with dementia are two to three times more likely to have urinary incontinence and four times more likely to have fecal incontinence, according to ...

Dementia and diabetes risk score debuts

A new tool can predict the 10-year risk of dementia for patients with diabetes.

Ask the treatment expert

Ask the treatment expert ... about incontinence briefs

Should incontinence briefs be used in the long-term care setting?

Wound care

FDA clears the air on health benefits linked to chambers

Hyperbaric oxygen chambers can be used to treat diabetic foot ulcers, and the government is fine with that. But regulators are becoming increasingly concerned about ...

Pressure ulcers 'not entirely preventable'

Seniors' lack of protective skin proteins makes pressure ulcer prevention difficult, according to new research.

Nursing

Workaholics suffer mentally and physically, analysis says

Working long hours may result in decreased mental health and skipping meals, according to new research. While there has long been an assumed link between ...

Specialized nurses better for RA: study

Clinical nurse specialists provided more education and psychosocial support for rheumatoid arthritis patients, who in turn improved more and had fewer unplanned hospital admissions than ...

Ask the nursing expert ... about readmissions penalties

What do we need to know about federal authorities coming out with more penalties for hospitals?

Ask the payment expert

Ask the payment expert ... about clinical qualifiers

Most of our residents are covered under rehab services, so why do we need to worry about capturing clinical qualifiers?

Payment & policy

CMS puts surveyors on alert for those 'gaming' system

Federal regulators say surveyors need to prevent providers from possibly "gaming" the system when it comes to the timing of surveys and sales.

Cases subject to escrow

Federal regulators have expanded the use of escrow accounts so that as of this month, providers will be subject to their use for any kind ...

Ask the legal expert

Ask the legal expert ... about leave-of-absence mistakes

How can we avoid some of the most common leave-of-absence mistakes administrators/owners make?

Legal Matters

Meds not dispensed without valid scrips, PharMerica says

Long-term care pharmacy giant PharMerica dispensed controlled narcotics without valid prescriptions and charged Medicare, the federal government alleges in a False Claims Act lawsuit. The ...

Ruling paves the way for 'micro-unions'

Long-term care groups have expressed concern over a recent court ruling that could lead to the formation of "micro-unions" in nursing and assisted living facilities.

Design

A tradition of change

With a nod to community history, renovations at the Village at Rockville broadened services and created a more tranquil environment

How to do it…

How to do it ... rehabilitation

Rehabilitation professionals have been presented with significant new challenges since new functional G-code requirements became effective July 1. Those who use them wrong could lose ...

A day in the life

Young and old flock together

Autumn is a busy season at Lutheran Life Community's Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights, IL. "We see a lot of transitions from room to room, ...

I couldn't live without...

I couldn't live without ... HealthMEDX clinical EMR

When Michael Mutterer became vice president of senior services at Riverside Medical Center in Illinois in 2011, his first priority was introducing clinical electronic medical ...

Technology

New Wisconsin data network breaking through old barriers

In what may be a sign of things to come, Wisconsin nursing homes, hospitals and other providers will soon have the ability to exchange patient ...

ITUpdate

» A new system from researchers at MIT and Israel's Technion and Tel Aviv University can confirm computer programs running on the cloud are working ...

Opinion

Meds in a cupcake

If you're weary of pursuing constant improvement and innovation in long-term care, take inspiration from Burger King.

Company news

Faith-based provider forced to sell off 6 nursing homes

Catholic Health Care Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, one of the nation's largest faith-based long-term care providers, has announced it will sell its six ...

KY helping Trilogy grow

Trilogy Health Services, which operates 76 senior living communities in the Midwest, is looking to expand its headquarters to support significant growth.

CompanyBriefs

» Alana Healthcare has continued to partner with skilled nursing facilities in the Southeast as it transitions from a durable medical equipment supplier to a ...

Vendor news

Sanofi moves to new stage in C. diff vaccine program

Sanofi Pasteur's vaccine division has started a Phase III clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a vaccine for Clostridium difficile.

Diabetes—obesity drug to be created

U.S. pharmacy giant Eli Lilly and Company and Denmark's Zealand Pharma are working on new treatments for type 2 diabetes and obesity, the companies announced.

CompanyBriefs

» Premier Inc., a healthcare group purchasing alliance with 56,000 non-acute healthcare facilities, filed for an initial public offering of its stock. Headquartered in North ...

Business & Marketing

Bad news, good ideas

There is bad news about nonprofit investment returns. Organizations made changes to their asset allocation policies in 2012 that reduced returns. It is thought such ...

The big picture

This gift has kept giving

A notable anniversary took place when the Social Security program recently turned 78. People often disagree about how well this program has worked and whether ...

Editor’s desk

Providers to learn: never enough friends in play

Sometimes long-term care providers struggle to find meaning in the signs that are strewn in their path. Whether it's legalese, regulatory gobbledy-gook or some form ...