CMS recently issued its 2012 Action Plan for Further Improvement of Nursing Home Quality. The Action Plan, which was distributed to state survey agency directors, highlights the continued movement by CMS toward empirically based healthcare and outcome management.
I was concerned about my floor being stripped and waxed because it upsets my routine. Since I wanted things to run smoothly, I had my driver, Debra, come at 8 a.m. on Thursday to help the maintenance guys move things. That way I knew I would have some idea where things were put.
In August, three important releases were published that will influence the role of long-term care/post-acute care (LTPAC) providers and vendors in the future months and years.
The first was the release of the Summary Report of Findings from the May 3 LTPAC Roundtable meeting sponsored by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC). Anyone involved with LTPAC clinical healthcare information technology (HIT) should consider it mandatory reading.
My business mentor, a man of incredible brilliance with his ability to ask a single question that changes my world, asked me today: "Do your clients have a waiting list?” He suggested that for the next year I ponder this question and do everything in my power to figure out how to help my clients achieve a waiting list if they didn’t have one.
Senior living providers often discuss occupancy rates. They live or die by rates and the mix that is tied to them in order to make the proforma work.
On my way to breakfast the other day, Paul was rolling nervously up and down where furniture lined the front hall. His room’s floor was being stripped and waxed, and he wanted to know when it would be finished. It was 8 a.m. and maintenance said they would be done by 4 p.m. He said, “You will make sure that everything’s put back where it was?” They nodded at him and he moved away.
Today’s nursing homes are highly diverse institutions. Often our residents are from different ethnic and class backgrounds than the direct-care staff who provide most of their care. Particularly in urban areas, staff hail from countries spanning the entire globe. There are differences in education, age, primary language and spiritual beliefs, to name a few. All of these differences impact daily interactions among staff and residents.
Last fall when my computer turned five, it no longer ran my voice activation software as it once had. For several months I was on and off the fence about getting a new computer. Even though mine is maddeningly slow, I am used to it. I hated thinking about getting a new one and having that unfamiliar feeling.
But with continuing glitches plaguing me, I got a deal on a new computer from a local tech. The tech wanted to provide the other peripheral devices I needed. But when he did not have a laser printer, I went searching online on my own.
According to a recent editorial at www.pickthebrain.com (an online forum focusing on self-improvement), “What separates the highly successful is the ability to keep moving forward.” The obstacle is the all-too-human quagmire of negative thoughts, doubts and anxiety. Pervasive low staff retention rates in the senior care marketplace belie the epidemic of low motivation in this field.
I have always had very good teeth and few cavities. But my dentist warned when I moved to a nursing home I would have to be strident about my dental care or my teeth could rot out of my head. So, I asked the aides to brush my teeth thoroughly, and for the most part they did.
After eating in nursing homes for 16 years I know the menus by heart. At this facility the menus do not change much from winter to summer. Lighter foods would be nice in the summertime.
A few months ago, while recovering at a major university hospital, I had different, healthier food. Daily menus had two options for each meal. I could also request a smaller meal, if I wanted.
Long-term care providers around the nation have experienced the impact of challenging economic times. Many communities including skilled nursing homes, assisted living facilities and independent senior living properties have been forced to downsize elements of operations, resulting in the reassignment of personnel, redistribution of staff responsibilities, elimination of positions, closing of facilities and consolidation of other aspects of facilities management.
Having conducted and participated in hundreds of facility tours during my career, I have been able to distill the tour process into its most important stages. These stages comprise the welcome, discovery, tour, presenting financials/commitment and exit. Before we go into detail about these stages it might be helpful for you to understand what a tour is and what it is not.
