With demand for skilled nursing services increasing, patient acuity rising, technology quickly evolving, and the payment landscape becoming more complex and challenging, clinical leaders have their work cut out for them. That why we’re conducting a survey to uncover key insights about the trends, challenges and innovative strategies shaping the delivery of clinical care in […]
Category: Clinical
A vast majority of nonprofit and government-owned nursing homes across the U.S. complied with federal infection prevention training requirements, according to the results of an audit conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), released Tuesday. Those that failed to comply cited staffing challenges. The OIG’s audit, conducted between April 2024 through October 2024, examined […]
Long-term care facilities are struggling to evacuate patients due to logistical hurdles, as Hurricane Helene is expected to make landfall on Thursday night. Some Florida nursing homes, however, have successfully evacuated their residents and are following protocol, according Kristen Knapp, senior director of strategy and communications for the Florida Health Care Association. “Our members have […]
Following four deaths and a cluster of cases tied to Legionnaires’ disease at a New York-based assisted living facility, infection prevention experts are cautioning nursing homes to be vigilant about disease spread. Nursing homes have been prime breeding grounds in the past, leading to an outbreak at an Illinois nursing home for veterans and resulting […]
Due to the nationwide shortage of registered nurses (RNs), currently employed RNs are having to work longer shifts than during the pandemic. In the first quarter of 2024, about a dozen states reported that full shifts for RNs averaged over 11 hours per day. Registered nurses (RNs) working in nursing homes in Alaska and Utah […]
The rising acuity at nursing homes alongside increasingly stringent government regulation, is raising operational risk – and litigation – leaving facilities “overwhelmed” in its wake. As residents increasingly age in place for longer, they are arriving at skilled nursing facilities with more serious health conditions. This trend, combined with regulatory pressures and heightened scrutiny from […]
Allowing nursing home staff experiencing mild Covid symptoms to work, masked, appears to be better for resident welfare than furloughing infected workers. Missing tasks outweighed increased harm from Covid transmission in a simulated scenario, according to a study published Monday morning in JAMA Network Open. Understaffing was associated with missed tasks, resident hospitalizations and deaths, […]
Specialized clinical programs at nursing homes, tailored to specific patient populations, are gaining popularity. Their success and longevity depend on forging close partnerships with local hospitals to address gaps in care – a feature that is also expected to alleviate backlogs at hospitals. In creating strong clinical programs at SNFs, hospitals – can and do […]
In anticipation of the fall flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is revising its guidelines for the RSV vaccine and recommending that older adults in nursing homes receive the vaccine. The recommendations issued Wednesday, strongly advises that adults aged 75 and older adults receive the RSV vaccine. Meanwhile, adults aged 60 […]
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) on Thursday announced that a draft bill is underway that, if enacted, would bring unprecedented reforms for hospice payment and oversight. The draft bill comes as more skilled nursing operators expand their hospice offerings, including by launching their own hospice businesses or more closely partnering with existing hospice providers. Blumenauer announced […]
A screening tool that predicts short-term mortality of older adults could potentially be used to improve care for high-risk patients visiting emergency departments and other health care settings, including nursing homes. A recent study published in JAMA has highlighted the effectiveness of the Geriatric End-of-Life Screening Tool (GEST) in predicting 6-month mortality in older patients […]
The newly finalized minimum staffing standards by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have ignited a significant debate among nursing home leaders regarding the inclusion and role of licensed practical nurses (LPNs). The mandate, announced on April 22, 2024, establishes new comprehensive minimum nurse staffing requirements, aiming to enhance the quality of care […]
Nursing homes in states with large rural communities have long struggled to grapple with workforce issues, and for most of these rural providers there seems to be no end in sight, making fulfilling the federal government’s staffing mandate an impossibility. For such communities, registered nurses (RNs) are especially hard to recruit, and statistics paint a […]
Over the past five years, long-term care facilities in Florida, including a few nursing homes but mostly assisted-living facilities, have been pressured due to a steep rise in commercial property insurance rates. According to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration, insurance premiums in Florida rose by 125% during this period, with an average of […]
Although there is a chance the federal government’s staffing mandate may be overturned, operators should still be aware of how upcoming changes could impact their operations. This is according to sector experts, who said that while the mandate is well-intentioned, it lacks a comprehensive plan to address the realities of staffing shortages and regional variations […]
Sabra Health Care REIT’s (Nasdaq: SBRA) CEO Rick Matros said Thursday that the federal government’s premature release of the minimum staffing mandate shows a lack of consideration given to the thousands of comments submitted against it, leaving the sector with no choice but to challenge it. During the California based real estate trust’s (REIT) quarterly […]
As rural nursing homes face an ongoing battle for survival, the finalization of the nursing home staffing mandate has only served to instill more anxiety among caregivers and providers in these communities. Some approaches from the rural Midwest, from higher wages to educational training to becoming a nonprofit nursing home, look promising in improving staff […]
In a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that the risk of fractures was numerically higher among subgroups of residents with dementia, higher baseline blood pressure values, and recent antihypertensive medication use. The retrospective cohort study analyzed data from 29,648 long-term care nursing home residents within the Veterans Health Administration (VA) from […]
Skilled nursing facilities are set to see changes to the Quality Reporting Program (QRP), with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) making moves to address social determinants of health (SDOH) – mainly, adding factors such as living situation, food, utilities, and transportation. “These quality measures are leading us into the realm of health […]
Several states across the U.S. have introduced online navigation platforms to assist families and residents in making informed decisions on their search for a nursing home – after a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that Care Compare needed fixes to better serve residents. Both Missouri and Ohio have recently launched such tools, providing users […]
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