Long-Term Living Magazine

Front Porch puts mHealth medication management on front burner

Pamela Tabar — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:58:58 +0000

The Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing and CareSpeak Communications develop a patient-centric medications reminder service to improve seniors' medication compliance.

The Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing (Front Porch Center) and CareSpeak Communications have teamed up to develop mHealth applications for better medication compliance among older adults.

Evacuation costs may be levied on ill-prepared La. SNFs

Sandra Hoban — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:37:28 +0000

Ignoring evacuation plans may become costly for Louisiana facilities that do not have adequate systems in place to move their residents out of harm's way.

In anticipation of the 2013 hurricane season that begins June 1, officials at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) are reminding nursing homes that they will be billed if a facility can’t perform its emergency evacuation plan.

CMMI rethinks its innovation program, sharpens focus for Round 2 funding

Pamela Tabar — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:46:13 +0000

CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announces a significantly smaller and more-focused project list for Round Two of the funding awards.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) will narrow its focus for the upcoming second round of Health Care Innovation Awards, the program announced Wednesday.

Signature HealthCARE acquires six Kindred Healthcare SNFs

Sandra Hoban — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:27:47 +0000

Signature HealthCARE has acquired six facilities from Kindred Healthcare, increasing Signature’s national presence to 78 facilities.

On Wednesday, Signature HealthCARE added six skilled nursing facilities to its roster in a transaction with Kindred Healthcare. Signature enters the Indiana market with three of the new acquisitions.

Senate confirms Marilyn Tavenner as permanent administrator of CMS

Sandra Hoban — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:25:44 +0000

Tavenner is the first permanent administrator of that federal agency to be confirmed in nearly a decade.

Marilyn Tavenner, RN, the acting administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), on Wednesday, May 15, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as CMS’s permanent administrator, the first nominee for the job to receive formal confirmation in nearly a decade. The vote for Tavenner’s nomination passed by 91 to 7 on Wednesday afternoon, POLITICO reported.

Medicare fraudsters nabbed in $223 million nationwide bust

Pamela Tabar — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:30:46 +0000

This week’s Medicare fraud sting operation involved nearly 100 people across multiple states, including physicians, nurses and therapists.

Federal authorities charged 89 people for false Medicare billings totalling $223 million Tuesday in one of the largest multistate raids to date. The sting operation focused on eight cities across the country (listed in order of charges) Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, Brooklyn, N.Y., Chicago, Tampa, Fla. and Baton Rouge, La.

Skilled nursing: The continuing quest for quality

Sandra Hoban — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:13:17 +0000

While quality and satisfaction scores have improved, skilled nursing facilities need to continue to improve and adapt to government policy and reimbursement cuts to survive.

A recent report by PointRight for the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC), a coalition of 10 post-acute and LTC organizations, finds that while skilled nursing quality measures (QMs) have improved significantly since 2003, there is room for improvement.

Can sleep quality predict the need for nursing home care?

Sandra Hoban — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:09:29 +0000

Counting sheep, warm milk and a quiet room are not cure-all remedies for insomnia. A recent study finds that sleeplessness may predict the need for extended care.

Treating the symptoms of insomnia could reduce patient load in healthcare settings and reduce healthcare costs.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted a two-phase sleep investigation involving 14,355 adults, age 55 and older. The study looked for possible links between insomnia symptoms and future hospitalizations, nursing home admission and the increased use of home healthcare services.

LTPAC information technology conference melds care quality & business impact

John Derr — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:52:27 +0000

June's LTPAC HIT Summit will mark the annual long-term and post-acute care meeting of the minds of technology and longitudinal care coordination.

I thought I would use this month’s blog to update you on the 9^th Annual LTPAC HIT Summit that will be held on June 16-18, 2013 at the Baltimore Inner Harbor Hyatt Hotel. This year’s summit will be one of the most important as LTPAC providers are being recognized by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as necessary partners in the successful implementation of the HITECH Act.

FDA approves 24-hour COPD drug

Pamela Tabar — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:20:20 +0000

The FDA has approved the first once-a-day inhalant to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the green light to a new drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Breo Ellipta, co-developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Theravance, is being marketed as the first 24-hour maintenance inhalant for COPD.

The new drug is a combination of two other GlaxoSmithKline treatments: an inhaled corticosteroid (fluticasone furoate; on the market as Avamys/Veramyst) and vilanterol, a long-acting beta2-adrenergic agonist.