As many skilled nursing facilities are falling short of expected federal requirements for adequate nursing staff, the shortage has led to a failure to promote the well-being of residents and to burnout and low retention for current staff. According to a recent staffing report by the Long Term Care Community Coalition, data provided by the […]
Category: Clinical
Legislative efforts to expand the types of positions that count toward Florida’s minimum staffing ratio seem to have backfired somewhat, as overall staffing levels in the state’s 700 nursing homes have declined within the past two years. That’s according to a report published by AARP Florida, which found that staffing levels dropped from 4.74 hours […]
Use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been steadily increasing at nursing homes, as the technology begins to deliver on its promises to improve efficiencies in a wide variety of areas, from clinical outcomes to back-office work. And while ChatGPT is the attention-grabber these days, natural language processing is but one of the ways AI is […]
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Wednesday found that Care Compare was lacking in some data metrics related to resident experience, among other metrics. The report found that Care Compare, which provides key information on infection control, cost, workforce and additional critical measures about a facility’s performance, needs continuous improvement in order to enhance […]
Nursing home residents with Alzhiemer’s disease and related dementias, when not the majority of a facility population, may not be receiving the specialized care they need. In fact, only skilled nursing facilities that had a population with over 90% of residents with Alzheimer’s and other related dementias seemed to have better care. This is according […]
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released findings last week highlighting a spike in cases of human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, in March 2023. HMPV is a respiratory virus that can cause lower lung infections, leading to a deep, hacking cough and other mild symptoms like runny nose, sore throat, and fever, the […]
New approved drugs for Alzheimer’s may be covered by Medicare if patients meet the conditions of showing cognitive decline and early onset of dementia, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said Thursday. Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure shared the process for access and coverage by Medicare for such Alzheimer’s drugs that are currently pending approval […]
The efforts of the federal government and nursing homes to reduce the use of psychotropics have been significant, and seem to have paid off until recently when the numbers painted a more grim picture. Some operators believe that the alarming rise in the prescriptions of psychotropics is partly due to a lack of communication between […]
As the Skilled Nursing News’ CLINICAL event in Washington D.C. came to a close last month, industry experts left with staffing concerns amid labor shortages and pending legislation on minimum staffing standards. However, operators also shared optimism over their innovations in corporate and clinical practices as they continued to confront higher acuity and tighter regulation. […]
For nursing home operators with rapidly expanding portfolios, there are a lot of challenges and rewards to consider. Joseph Lee, Senior VP of Support Services at PACS, knows this first-hand. “We’re looking at where we can have a footprint where four or five facilities that can support one another and we can absorb them into […]
The “Super SNF” is not a new concept, but is taking on new and deeper meanings as skilled nursing facilities take on a greater variety of patients with complex clinical conditions. “The term Super SNF has been a popular term. And absolutely our hospitals, the managed care companies, they’re looking to all of us to […]
Like many markets across the country, the Twin Cities in Minnesota are confronting a reduction in skilled nursing beds, which is forcing patients to remain in hospitals for longer periods of time — with skilled nursing-at-home gaining momentum as a solution to these discharge pressures. “The average length-of-stay on the hospital side is eight days […]
Deadly fungus Candida auris has spread across more than 27 states, with Nevada and New York leading as hot spots. Given that nursing homes are particularly prone to the drug-resistant fungal infection, experts are concerned about its continuing climb ever since the government’s report last month, and media outlets continue to shine a light on […]
On the heels of warnings about the spread of deadly fungal infection of Candida auris, the World Health Organization (WHO) is now raising alarms about widespread resistance against antimicrobial drugs — with long-term care settings particularly at risk of some resulting “superbugs.” Medical experts and government agencies are cautioning that unless the use of antimicrobial […]
Two new bills aimed at expanding the permissions of certified nursing assistants (CNAs), including the ability to administer routine medications, have advanced in Florida’s House and Senate. Senate Bill 558 and House Bill 351 would free up time for nurses for more advanced patient care by permitting CNAs to become trained as “qualified medication aides,” […]
Nursing homes that conducted staff surveillance testing more regularly experienced lower rates of Covid-19 infections and deaths among residents, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine released Wednesday. “This research demonstrates that frequent Covid surveillance testing protected nursing home residents and undoubtedly saved lives by detecting more infected staff, potentially […]
Operators in small towns are beginning to lean more heavily on telehealth providers to fill gaps in mental health care, citing ease of use and convenience, according to a Kaiser Health News report. “Telemedicine visits became much more common throughout the American health care system during the pandemic, as guidelines on ‘social distancing’ curtailed in-person […]
Older adults who were discharged to skilled nursing facilities after the pandemic received rehabilitation care comparable to the levels of care that were provided before the pandemic, according to research published in the JAMA Health Forum. This, despite a rise in patient acuity during the period. Researchers said that despite exceptional challenges during the pandemic, […]
The changing nature of the skilled nursing business has enabled Optalis Healthcare to gain scale, adding 21 facilities through three deals executed in the last year. “The business has changed a lot; it takes a lot more in terms of resource deployment,” Optalis CEO Raj Patel told Skilled Nursing News during an interview at the […]
Trilogy Health Services last week announced the appointment of the company’s first-ever chief medical officer, naming Dr. Andrew McNamara to the post. Appointing a CMO is just the latest step in Trilogy’s concerted, multi-year effort to elevate clinical care. The push can be traced to 2019, when Leigh Ann Barney became CEO. “People asked, what’s […]
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