Just as predicted before the rollout began, vaccine hesitancy among nursing home workers stands as a serious barrier to widespread acceptance in long-term care — and, in turn, fully fostering group immunity among the most vulnerable. Battered by COVID-19 and unwilling to trust the institutions that oversaw the deaths of their patients and colleagues, a […]
Nursing homes have long existed in a liminal space between acute care and senior living. The short-term rehab side of nursing care has increasingly turned into something like a mini-hospital, as both Medicare and Medicare Advantage have looked to reduce overall spending by cutting down on hospital admissions and lengths of stay — and operators […]
One of the states hit hardest in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic has implemented stricter rules around nursing home staffing, set to take effect early next year. Starting February 1, nursing homes in New Jersey must have one certified nursing assistant (CNA) per eight residents during day shifts, one direct caregiver for every […]
Staffing, a long-standing thorn in the side of skilled nursing operators even before the COVID-19 pandemic, has emerged as one of the most critical elements in how facilities manage an outbreak and navigate the current public health emergency. But it would be hard to tell that fact by the pay certified nursing assistants (CNAs), who […]
A recent Skilled Nursing News survey of nursing home operators found cautious optimism about the near-term future of the space, with a majority seeing a clear path to the future even without additional government support. At the same time, operators have largely been pouring that federal largesse — including CARES Act grants, Payroll Protection Program […]
The operator North Shore Healthcare has navigated rapid-fire growth since the company’s beginning. From two locations, it has grown rapidly. Now the Glendale, Wisconsin-based North Shore has 71 locations, 60 of which are skilled nursing facilities, with its primary footprint in the Badger State. The company grew in spurts over that time period, but CEO […]
As skilled nursing operators gather themselves together to prepare for their new era in the wake of a pandemic that has upended their sector in particular and society more broadly, there are significant lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 era, according to the leader of the largest trade organization for nursing homes in the […]
On the surface, Lori Porter earned a seat on a federal commission to improve nursing home care to serve as a voice for certified nursing assistants (CNAs). As the CEO and co-founder of the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA), Porter — a former CNA herself — advocates for those vital frontline employees who […]
By adhering to infection control processes, particularly the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and cohorting residents, skilled nursing facilities have significantly reduced their weekly COVID-19 infection and mortality rates, a new study has determined. The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society earlier this month, examining 360 nursing homes in the state […]
Skilled nursing operator North Shore Healthcare recently announced an expansion of its work with a Dallas-based physician-led organization to its entire portfolio, with the goal of enhancing and standardizing the clinical care in North Shore’s 71 SNFs and assisted living facilities. It’s work that North Shore CEO David Mills is particularly important because of the […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the limitations of the current system of nursing home care in the united states, and without major changes, nursing homes are not – and will not – be able to deal with major pandemics such as the current one, according to several authors writing in the National Academy of Medicine […]
Nursing homes in New York with unionized workforces had lower mortality rates from COVID-19, as well as greater access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and lower COVID-19 infection rates, according to a new study released September 10 in the journal Health Affairs. Specifically, health care unions in nursing homes were associated with a 1.29 percentage […]
Six months into the coronavirus crisis, the nation has settled into an uneasy return to semi-normalcy, with many schools reopening, sports airing on television every night, and most people learning to live with socializing in small groups while wearing masks and keeping plenty of distance. But for nursing home residents already ravaged by COVID-19, any […]
More than one in five nursing homes reported “severe” shortfalls of both personal protective equipment (PPE) and staffing, a new study published in the journal Health Affairs found — and those shortages did not meaningfully improve from May to July. The study is scheduled for publication in a later print edition of the journal, with […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should be doing more to enforce proper staffing levels at nursing homes, while providing more detailed information about nurse coverage hours to the public, the federal government’s top health care watchdog found in a new report. About 7% of the nation’s nursing facilities failed to meet one […]
When it became apparent that COVID-19 was sweeping the country, one of the earliest major preventative steps was a move by the federal government to instate a near-total lockdown on any unnecessary visits. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the sweeping ban on March 13, which did include an exception for end-of-life […]
With the U.S. taking steps toward reopening — at varying paces in varying states –— skilled nursing leaders from the East Coast COVID-19 hotspots of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut had several pieces of advice for their counterparts elsewhere, which all ultimately boiled down to one warning. Be prepared. That includes taking steps to […]
Nursing facilities with more registered nursing coverage had lower rates of COVID-19 deaths, a new study has found, while a better federal quality rating correlates with a smaller outbreak size. “Nursing homes with higher RN staffing and quality ratings have the potential to better control the spread of the novel coronavirus and reduce deaths,” a […]
The COVID-19 pandemic struck the Northeast with particular force, with skilled nursing facilities sitting on the front lines. One of the pressures stemming from the pandemic came on the workforce front, as frontline caregivers such as nurses and certified nursing assistants fell ill with COVID-19. And as the spread of the virus accelerated in New […]
Staffing shortages were a problem for skilled nursing facilities well before the current national emergency, but COVID-19’s behavior has exacerbated the challenges. Asymptomatic workers who moved from facility to facility — and who, by nature of their work, from patient to patient — were a major part of the reason the Life Care Center of […]