the online news magazine
for the nursing home community

According to timesleaderonline.com, National Nursing Home Week kicked off on Mother’s Day and will conclude on Saturday featuring the theme “Love is Ageless.” The weeklong celebration was established in 1967 by the American Health Care Association (AHCA). Facilities nationwide have planned numerous activities designed to foster intergenerational relationships, collect and preserve patient's reminiscences, strengthen relationships with family members, celebrate quality, and recognize all staff members who demonstrate excellent care giving. (more...)

According to the Associated Press, Democrats controlling Congress are leaving grim decisions on automatic tax increases to the next president and the newly elected Congress under a freshly negotiated House-Senate blueprint for the upcoming budget year. The fiscal 2009 budget plan worked out in private talks between House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt Jr., D-S.C., and his Senate counterpart, Kent Conrad, D-N.D., awards an approximately 4 percent increase on average to nondefense Cabinet budgets passed by Congress each year. But it makes no effort to rein in the rapidly rising cost of federal benefit programs such as Medicare. Conrad told reporters Tuesday that he anticipates the nonbinding budget plan would pass both House and Senate by the end of next week. He declined to reveal key details. (more...)

According to courant.com, for months, state Sen. Edith Prague rallied support for nursing-home reforms from Democratic leaders and advocates for the elderly, telling anyone who would listen that "this is the year" for improvements to minimum-staffing requirements and stronger oversight of the industry. This wasn't the year. When the legislature adjourned at midnight Wednesday, it left more than a dozen proposals to increase nursing-home staffing levels, enforcement and financial accountability on the table. We got nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing," said Prague, D-Columbia, who has tried for a decade to increase the state's outdated minimum-staffing requirement for nursing homes, which is among the lowest in the country. (more...)

According to healthbusinessblog.com, the FDA needs help spreading the word about recalls of injectable heparin products and heparin flush solutions that may be contaminated with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS). Affected heparin products have been found in medical care facilities in one state since the recall announcement. Although product recall instructions were widely distributed, they may not have been fully acted upon at all sites where heparin is used. There have been many reports of deaths associated with allergic or hypotensive symptoms after heparin administration. (more...)

According to medicalnewstoday.com, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new project that expands its efforts to encourage beneficiaries covered by traditional Medicare to take advantage of Internet-based resources to track their health care services and better communicate with their providers. The CMS pilot uses an on-line tool called a Personal Health Record (PHR) to give Medicare beneficiaries the ability to collect and then access information about their health or health care services, such as medical conditions, hospitalizations, doctor visits and medications, and collect information about their health. CMS is ensuring that strict privacy and security safeguards are in place to protect all beneficiary data. The pilot test will take place in South Carolina, where beneficiaries will be given an opportunity to use a PHR populated by their own Medicare claims data. (more...)

According to The Wall Street Journal, members of Congress are expressing concern and scheduling hearings about a Medicare plan to use competitive bidding for products such as wheelchairs and walkers, in a sign that lobbying by medical-equipment companies is gaining traction. Currently, companies receive a government-set fee to distribute such equipment for patients' home use. Under the competitive system, companies bid on how low a fee they would be willing to accept. Medicare then limits distribution rights for a particular geographic area to several low bidders. An experiment with competitive bidding, mandated by a 2003 law, is starting in 10 cities this July. It is expected to expand to 70 more cities including Los Angeles and New York next year. The project involves ten categories of medical products, among them power wheelchairs, walkers, hospital beds and oxygen equipment. (more...)

According to aarp.org, Washington-AARP this week launches a new round of grassroots outreach and advertising throughout the country as a part of its effort to Keep Medicare Fair. During the month of May, television spots will run inside the Beltway and in select markets, urging Americans to tell Congress it must Keep Medicare Fair when it addresses the program this spring. AARP will also launch an online advertising campaign, print ads in major market newspapers and a direct mail blitz of more than 200,000 pieces. "Our members are fired up about keeping Medicare fair," said AARP Vice President Elaine Ryan. "AARP's early outreach showed a tremendous amount of support for the effort, and we expect this latest round of media and grassroots outreach to send a clear message to lawmakers. It's time to stop piling premium increases on to the people who rely on Medicare." (more...)

According to mcknights.com, nursing home company shares rose on Friday following the release of a proposed government rule to cut Medicare funding in fiscal year 2009 by a net $60 million. The increase reflected investors' relief that the reductions were not more severe. While the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed slashing $770 million, or 3.3%, to nursing homes in Medicare payments, it said the loss would be offset by a market-basket increase. The 3.1% proposed increase would translate to $710 million in increased funding for facilities. These two measures would result in a total loss of $60 million. (more...)

According to medicalnewstoday.com, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced its proposal for new, more accurate fiscal year (FY) 2009 payment rates for Medicare skilled nursing facilities that more closely reflect differences in patient care needs. "CMS is committed to providing high quality care to those in skilled nursing facilities and to paying those facilities properly for that care," said Acting Administrator Kerry Weems . "The proposed adjustments to the payment rates for next year reflect that policy." Medicare pays skilled nursing facilities on a prospective payment system known as the Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS). The SNF PPS uses a resource classification known as Resource Utilization Groups (RUGs) to help determine a daily payment rate. The RUGs reflect a patient's severity of illness and the kind of services that a person requires-something known as "case-mix." (more...)

According to CMS, Medicaid beneficiaries and families searching for top quality long-term care services can find critical new information added today to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Web site “Nursing Home Compare.” For the first time, information about nursing homes on the Compare Web site will list whether a home is or has been on CMS’ special focus facility (SFF) list.  The agency’s SFF initiative gives heightened scrutiny to nursing homes that have a history of poor performance or repeated violations of state and federal health and safety rules. “Today’s expansion of information on Nursing Home Compare will give beneficiaries a more complete picture of a nursing home’s history of providing quality care,” CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems said. (more...)

According to emaxhealth.com, eighty-four percent of Americans over the age of 50 expect an immediate family member to move into a senior living community within the next 10 years, while 24 percent over the age of 65 expect the same for themselves, according to a new national survey of American attitudes on assisted living released today by the Coalition to Protect Choice in Senior Living (CPCSL). The poll found just more than half (51 percent) expect their parents to live in a senior living community within 10 years, with 15 percent expecting the same for their spouse and 10 percent for a sibling. (more...)

According to the Associated Press, costs for nursing homes, assisted living facilities and some in-home care services have increased for a fifth consecutive year, and could rise further if a shortage of long-term care workers isn't resolved, a new study indicates. The survey by Genworth Financial Inc., released Tuesday, comes as baby boomers are approaching retirement amid worries that they haven't saved enough to cover day-to-day expenses as well as long-term medical care costs. The study found that the average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home rose to $76,460, or $209 per day, this year, a 17 percent increase over the $65,185 cost in 2004. Nursing home costs this year ranged from $515 per day in Alaska to $125 per day in Louisiana, the study found. (more...)

According to acadiana.medicalnewsinc.com, threats to cut Medicare reimbursements for physicians have become something of an annual ritual, with lobbyists and members of Congress scrambling to delay the reductions. But this year, the threat level for physicians has been raised. Last month, the Louisiana Medical Society sent members and officials to meet with the state’s Congressional delegation. The society’s members asked for an 18-month moratorium on pay cuts and for help to offset the rising cost of practicing medicine. Dr. Myra Kleinpeter, a New Orleans nephrologist, was among those who traveled to Washington, D.C. She said doctors’ reimbursement rates likely won’t be cut 10.6 percent July 1, as proposed by the Bush administration, mainly because it’s an election year. (more...)

According to newsday.com, a push for new kinds of nursing homes in Connecticut is making its way through the state legislature. The Senate unanimously passed a bill on Thursday that requires the Department of Social Services to help develop up to 10 so-called "small house" nursing homes. Such facilities provide more of a homelike, rather than institutionalized settings. (more...)

According to the Associated Press, the House moved Wednesday to impose a one-year moratorium on new Medicaid rules, with lawmakers arguing that the administration-backed cost-saving measures would add to the burdens of states and health care providers. Strong bipartisan support was expected for the legislation to delay implementation of the seven rules through March next year, challenging a veto threat from the White House. Congress has overridden a veto only once in the Bush presidency, last November on a water projects bill. Passage of the legislation in a vote scheduled for later Wednesday would send it to the Senate Finance Committee, where Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is reviewing options for suspending the regulations, his press officer said. (more...)

According to mcknights.com, because new Medicare reimbursement policies are focusing on quality of care at nursing homes, compliance officers will have a greater role in ensuring accurate documentation of care, one medical official said, according to a news report. Health officials and the Department of Health and Human Services' legal counsel talked about the changing and growing role of compliance officers in the field of healthcare at a recent Health Care Compliance Association meeting, the Bureau of National Affairs reported. (more...)

According to The Plain Dealer, if you have a relative or friend in a nursing home and on Medicaid, a few minutes of your time could do him or her a world of good. All you need is a pen and Internal Revenue Service form 1040A. Fill out a few lines and your relative will get $300 in spending money. John Saulitis is doing his best to get that word out. "What we came to find out through our visits and our volunteers' visits is that it wasn't common knowledge -- among residents or nursing-home staff -- that nursing-home residents are entitled to this payment," Saulitis said. (more...)

According to daily-times.com, a San Juan County physician joins one-third of the nation's Internal Medicine specialists in expressing his disapproval of impending cuts by the federal government in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. Cuts of 10.6 percent and an additional 5 percent are scheduled to start July 1 and Jan. 1, 2009, respectively. The American College of Physicians sent a questionnaire to its 125,000 members recently. More than 30 percent of the doctors who responded said they would discontinue seeing new Medicare patients if the cuts go into effect. (more...)

According to myfoxtampabay.com, a mysterious illness swept through a Largo nursing home Sunday, sending ten people to the hospital. Investigators are now trying to figure out what caused the illnesses at the Grand Villa Assisted Living and Alzheimer's Residence in Largo early Sunday morning. One resident described a chaotic scene with fire trucks, ambulances and sick patients. "It was mobbed out here for awhile, and I don't really know what happened, but everyone was wearing the masks and the hat and whatever," said resident Claire York. (more...)

According to HCPro.com, the number of healthcare workers to manage the needs of the elderly, who make up nearly 20% of the US population, is not adequate, says a new Institute of Medicine report. Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce discusses the need for grand changes to the healthcare system to accommodate for the mass of baby boomers turning 65. (more...)

According to The New York Sun, as New York hospitals wrestle with cutbacks and budget constraints, nursing homes are finding a new role in treating patients who are well enough to be sent home but need additional care. In a departure from their traditional role, nursing homes statewide in recent years have seen an influx of patients seeking short-term, rehabilitative care, as cash-strapped hospitals treat and discharge patients as quickly as possible. With increasing turnover rates at nursing homes, a number of facilities citywide are responding to the demand, taking on costly renovation projects that shrink the number of long-term beds but add space devoted to short-term care. (more...)

According to ohio.com, police in Cincinnati have raided a nursing home for the second time in just over a month, this time because of accusations of inadequate care. Computers were removed from Westside Health Care and The Terrace on Tuesday, and residents were interviewed. A warrant for the raid listed complaints by three residents. (more...)

According to Newsday, Long Islanders aren't thrilled with their hospitals, according to a new federal consumer survey: On average, Island hospitals scored lower in patient satisfaction in eight out of 10 measures compared with other hospitals statewide or nationally. "I can't explain it, other than we have a more critical audience on Long Island," said Kevin Dahill, chief executive of the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council. "The good news is that so many Long Island hospitals participated and they are going to learn from it. "For the first time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has posted consumer survey information on its Hospital Compare Web site that attempts to capture the experiences of patients in a hospital. The 10 measures range from whether a nurse or doctor communicated well to whether the patient would definitely recommend the hospital. (more...)

According to hcpro.com, medical errors cost Medicare $8.8 billion and resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths during 2004 through 2006, according to a new HealthGrades study. The study also found that Medicare patients who experienced a patient-safety incident had a one-in-five chance of dying as a result of the incident during 2004 to 2006. Safety incidents decreased almost 5% from 2004 through 2006. (more...)

According to kaisernetwork.org, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Wednesday voted to approve several recommendations to Congress focused on Medicare reimbursements for skilled nursing facilities and primary care, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 4/10). The commission recommended amending the Medicare payment system for skilled nursing facilities to add a "separate nontherapy ancillary component" that includes prescription drugs and intravenous therapy. MedPAC also recommended revising the therapy component of the system to base reimbursements on "predicted patient care needs" and implementing a provision for "outlier payments" for unusual financial losses. In addition, the commission recommended a proposal under which HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt would require skilled nursing facilities to report diagnosis information, dates of services on claims filed and "services they furnish separately" on patient assessments. (more...)