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 […]
Category: Clinical
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 […]
The nursing home sector’s minimal participation in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) – largely because they have not found it lucrative to be in ACOs or have been sidelined within ACOs by other provider types – has resulted in a push for change. In a joint effort aimed at enhancing the integration of long-term and post-acute […]
Increasing nursing home staffing alone will not translate into better health or quality-of-care outcomes for dementia patients. This is the finding of a recently published study in the journal, Health Services Research, which combines the efforts of experts at UC-Irvine, UCLA, and the University of Chicago. Researchers recommend looking beyond just staffing to improve dementia […]
Nursing homes have seen a significant shift in staffing dynamics over the past decade, with a growing reliance on immigrant certified nursing assistants (CNAs) in the midst of a void left by the declining number of native-born staff, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs. SNN has reported that as the federal government […]
Subscribe
Receive industry updates and breaking news from SNN.