Next month we celebrate National Nurses Week and National Nursing Home Week. This makes it the perfect time to recognize what we do best, but for a different reason that is seldom recognized in the culture change movement.

Continuing Education Test #173 Based on Long-Term Living April 2012

How to Use the ACHCA Continuing Education Test

Picture this scenario: A skilled nursing facility’s survey results in several findings of substandard quality of care. The facility determines that a particular employee played a significant role in allowing the deficiencies. This employee also had past instances of failing to meet job expectations, and the facility terminates the employee.

If you had an empty plot of land on which to envision your senior living dream—no rules, no regulations, seemingly unlimited resources—what would you create?

The employees listened carefully to their boss as he outlined a new procedure.

“Any questions?”

None were raised, and the boss, pleased at the consensus, adjourned the meeting. But outside the conference room, the murmurs started.

How do they expect us to do that? Don’t they know that’s going to lead to this other problem? If they want that to happen, why didn’t they just do it this way? You and I both know that’ll never work, but I’m not going to be the one to say anything.

Me neither.

Editor’s note: The following story is a continuation of last week’s “7 steps to divestiture every nonprofit should follow”.

In today’s nonprofit senior-living environment, there are many reasons why a provider makes the decision to sell (divest) a facility─ailing finances or changes in mission focus, to name a few. Not only is it a difficult decision for a nonprofit’s board of trustees to make, most are uncertain how to go about it.

Continuing Education Test #172 Based on Long-Term Living March 2012

How to Use the ACHCA Continuing Education Test

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services presented modifications in January to the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI), which become effective on April 1, 2012. Since the launch of MDS 3.0 in October 2010, there have been regular modifications to the RAI Manual, leaving nursing facilities with the sense that the new tool is similar to standing in a changing tide.

Today marks the beginning of Long Term Care Administrators Week. During this holiday, the American College of Health Care Administrators honors and celebrates the important role the administrator has in providing leadership for the delivery of quality, resident-centered care and a supportive work environment for staff.

The recovery in assisted living occupancy took a pause at the end of 2011, as occupancy remained unchanged, according to NIC MAP. In 4Q11, assisted living occupancy was 88.6 percent, which is unchanged from the prior quarter and a 30-basis point increase from one year ago.

Absorption continued to remain positive, with the number of occupied units increasing by 0.4 percent in 4Q11. While absorption was markedly positive, the pace of inventory growth was also 0.4 percent—on par with absorption, resulting in occupancy remaining unchanged.

Kicking off the 33rd meeting of the federal Health IT Policy Committee on March 7, Farzad Mostashari, M.D., national coordinator for health IT, was eager to address a study published in the March issue of Health Affairs that questioned whether investment in health information technology would lead to cost savings.