New to ACOs? Find a Partner That Checks These 6 Boxes

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 […]

Voices: Thomas Kim, MD, MMM, FHM, Chief Medical Officer, Sound Long-Term Care Management

This article is sponsored by Sound Physicians. In this interview, Skilled Nursing News sits down with Dr. Thomas Kim, Chief Medical Officer, Sound Long-Term Care Management, to talk about the importance of long-term care accountable care organizations (ACOs) and their benefits to long-term care patients. He breaks down the care model for Sound’s ACO and […]

A SNF’s ‘Courageous Conversation’: Using Advance Care Planning

November is National Palliative Care and Hospice Month, and the 2023 theme of “Courageous Conversations” is a fitting one. Considering that nearly 95 percent of older adults are affected by at least one chronic condition, according to the National Council on Aging, the problem is widespread to say the least. The earlier someone and their […]

Delivering on the Promise of Telemedicine

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 […]

CMS Works to Further Reduce Inappropriate Medication Use in Nursing Homes as Part of Biden Reforms

The Biden administration’s recent efforts to further reduce inappropriate medications in nursing homes has been a multi-year endeavor for industry leaders, but many in the space believe there is still a long way to go. As part of the administration’s nursing home reforms, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will launch a new […]

How a TeleSNF Program Helped Cut Hospital Readmissions by 86%

Ryan Phillips had a problem. In early 2021, Abbey Woods Center for Rehabilitation and Healing, the 100-bed skilled nursing facility in St. Joseph, Missouri, where Phillips served as administrator, was struggling with hospital readmissions. Far too many residents were getting sent out to the emergency department, and staffing challenges only made things worse. “When I […]

Voices: Dr. Adnan Lakhani, Medical Director, Post-Acute Care, Sound Physicians

This article is sponsored by Sound Physicians. In this Voices interview, Skilled Nursing News sits down with Dr. Adnan Lakhani, Medical Director, Post-Acute Telemedicine, at Sound Physicians, to learn about the key gaps between hospitals and SNFs, and how telemedicine is bridging those gaps to deliver better clinical outcomes. He also explains why there has […]

How Tele-Hospitalists Can Help SNFs on the Road to Financial Recovery

Skilled nursing facilities may have already seen the bottom of the industry’s historic COVID-19-driven occupancy drop, allowing operators to turn their attention in the months ahead to the next key challenge: financial recovery. Operators must recoup the financial losses associated with COVID-19, offset increased costs and successfully address the reality of vast staff burnout. One […]

VOICES: Dr. Brian Carpenter, National Medical Director, Sound Physicians

This article is sponsored by Sound Physicians. In this Voices interview, Skilled Nursing News sits down with Sound Physicians National Medical Director Dr. Brian Carpenter to learn how Sound became a leader in the post-acute space, what COVID-19 might mean for telemedicine, how Sound Telemedicine (a division of Sound Physicians) has managed to treat 93% […]