As collaborative groups of physicians, hospitals and other health care providers voluntarily working together, accountable care organizations (ACOs) deliver well-coordinated, high-quality care to patients and represent a shift toward a more integrated and efficient health care system. With ACOs becoming important allies for many clinicians, it’s no surprise that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid […]

The post-acute care landscape is evolving, redefining the role of medical directors. Increased regulatory measures and heightened expectations of post-acute facilities have raised the importance of, and attention on, medical directors, placing them in an even greater position of organizational influence. Post-acute medical directors must bring a high level of knowledge to meet the clinical […]

For most nursing home residents, the time they spend in the skilled nursing facility falls at the end of their lives. This time is usually filled with stress, uncertainty and frustration. Skilled nursing providers have the job of giving patients the care they need along with the even greater role and responsibility to prioritize patients’ […]

Patients in skilled nursing facilities need more than just physical care — and SNFs are wisely delivering it. The inclusion of behavioral care with primary care in the skilled nursing setting is an essential development for SNFs. The question, of course, is how best to integrate behavioral health into the care continuum. According to one […]

With skilled nursing advocates and operators increasingly touting the benefits of Institutional Special Needs Plans (I-SNPs) as those benefits serve both residents and care providers, a new partnership initiative in Michigan is expanding the reach of such plans across many Medicare-eligible individuals. The new I-SNP offering builds on the existing partnership between provider-led primary and […]

Home is where the heart is. It’s also where health is. And no matter where a senior calls home, that’s exactly where health care providers want to help them remain — including skilled nursing facilities. For SNF operators, a resident having to leave early, unexpectedly or unnecessarily is exactly what they want to avoid. A […]

Schizophrenia, a long-term mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly and manage their emotions, normally presents at adolescence. However, data from the National Institute of Health show that at least 20% of patients do not show symptoms until they are older. And by “older,” NIH means 40 to 60 years of […]

For a technology to be effective, it must be used. And in skilled nursing facilities, the question of ease of use — and, with it, the changing of habits — was always central with telemedicine. But those days of reluctance look like they’re over. Sound Physicians has seen a 200% increase in utilization of its […]

The check-in kiosk is only the beginning. In 2023, skilled nursing operators continue to have one challenge higher than all others: staffing. Operators are working hard to attract and retain the best staff, often engaging staffing agencies to fill shifts. That brings additional challenges of both cost — including agency price gouging — and maintaining […]

As with most of the sector, Cincinnati-based Carespring Healthcare Management has faced ongoing workforce challenges, and their share of insurance and reimbursement complexity. Carespring operates 15 skilled nursing properties between two states, Ohio and Kentucky, and juggles a variety of managed care payers as well as differing Medicaid systems. “Carespring offers a superb rehabilitation product, […]

In an industry of acronyms, “APC” might get lost in the shuffle. But talk to the patients to whom they deliver life-changing care and APCs will never be overlooked. An Advanced Practice Clinician, or APC, is a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, and for quite some time they have been delivering quality care in the […]

The future of heath care and skilled nursing rests in the hands of caregivers — caregivers powered by the best data insights the industry has ever had. From the patient experience and workplace culture to operational efficiency and regulatory compliance, when used the right way, data plays a critical role in facilitating care delivery. Through […]

When skilled nursing providers seek to lower their readmission rates, they increasingly use data to do so. In fact, TeamHealth, which provides physicians and advanced practice clinicians across a range of both hospital-based clinical services and services in the post-acute setting, recommends following three datapoints in particular: antipsychotic use, fall risk and overall risk of […]

Chronic condition management is central to the success of long-term care patients, and providers are increasingly finding care solutions within their collection of patient data. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 60% of U.S. adults suffer from at least one chronic condition. This is a costly problem to say the […]

The COVID-19 pandemic placed skilled nursing facilities under an intense, national microscope, while also devastating the industry’s workforce. As such, the cost of skilled care increased, placing more attention on Medicaid, the largest payer of nursing home care. The resources committed to long-term care represent close to 60% of national Medicaid spending. Yet in many […]

The guidances were changing every day, seemingly by the hour, and Legacy Healthcare was facing problems they’d never seen before. No one had. This was March of 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Illinois-based Legacy, a long-term care provider that at the time had 33 facilities, was doing what all health care operators […]