Mental Health – Know The Risks

Angie SzumlinskiNews

“’Gravely disabled’ patient left to fend for himself,” that is the charge filed in a civil enforcement action against Scripps Health in San Diego. The patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffered from hallucinations, making it impossible for him to care for himself. He was hospitalized, delusional, refusing to attend to his basic needs, agitated, frequently cursing, etc. and the …

Nursing Homes Affiliated with U.S. Health Systems, 2018

Angie SzumlinskiNews

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) created the Comparative Health System Performance (CHSP) Initiative to study the characteristics of high-performing health systems and to understand how health systems use evidence-based practices, including patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR). The effective adoption and use of PCOR evidence holds promise as a way to improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs. However, little …

AHRQ ECHO National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network

Angie SzumlinskiFeatured, News

The AHRQ ECHO National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network, a partnership between AHRQ, the University of New Mexico’s ECHO Institute and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), provides free training and mentorship to nursing homes across the country to increase the implementation of evidence-based infection prevention and safety practices to protect residents and staff. Background In early Fall 2020, nearly …

National Tragedy: COVID-19 in the Nation’s Nursing Homes

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements, Featured

At the Senate Finance Committee Hearing held on Wednesday, March 16, 2021, staff members and operators were interviewed regarding how facilities managed the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the interviews were disturbing and indicated that many facilities struggled with staffing, PPE, resident deaths, the spread of infection, etc. None of this is news to those of us who have lived it …

The Pandemic Continues

Angie SzumlinskiHealth, Studies

Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have been a focal point for COVID-19 outbreaks, with rapid transmission noted soon after the first cases are recognized. Early recognition of persons with COVID-19 in SNFs will remain critical to halting infection transmission and ensuring appropriate clinical care even after residents and staff are vaccinated. In a study published in JAMDA, confirmed COVID-19 cases at …

CMS Press Release: CMS Updates Nursing Home Guidance with Revised Visitation Recommendations

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements, News

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued updated guidance on March 10th for nursing homes to safely expand visitation options during the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency (PHE).  This latest guidance comes as more than three million doses of vaccines have been administered within nursing homes, thanks …

Change is Never Easy

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements

Among the many long-standing issues that COVID-19 exposed in long-term care, the design of the facilities themselves stands as one of the most obvious. With new development of long-term care facilities almost non-existent, nursing homes frequently rank as the oldest health care properties in their given markets. “Semi-private” rooms with up to four beds remain common in many areas, a …

Eyes on You!

Angie SzumlinskiFeatured, News

In an article published on February 11, 2021, in Health Affairs, the authors stated that prior to the pandemic, persistent problems with nursing home care had been documented for years, often because of too few and inadequately trained frontline staff. The harm to frail older adults can be quite severe; abuse and sexual assault, infections, overuse of psychotropic medications, pressure …

Quality of Care in Nursing Homes

Angie SzumlinskiFeatured, News

An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will examine how our nation delivers finances, regulates and measures the quality of nursing home care with particular emphasis on challenges that have arisen in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee will consider a broad range of issues such as: Ways to generate and assess the …

10 Steps to Reform and Improve Nursing Homes

Angie SzumlinskiFeatured, News

In a recent article published in AARP, FAMILY CAREGIVING Medical, the “experts” identified 10- steps to reform and improve nursing homes. Some of the key points of the article were not “new” to those of us in the trenches however it is interesting how it was presented. Here are a few things that the organization and experts think we need …