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This week on HealthCap Weekly Wrap, we’re covering five key stories impacting senior living professionals—from new clinical guidance on UTI testing to trends in Medicare coding and tips for better pharmacy partnerships. Each story offers insight into how communities can strengthen care delivery, improve documentation, and support infection prevention initiatives.

PALTmed Calls on Providers to Stop Using Routine PCR Urine Tests for UTIs — A McKnight’s article spotlighting PALTmed’s public recommendation to avoid routine urine PCR testing in long-term care due to overdiagnosis and antibiotic overuse.

A Need for a Time-Out: A Consensus Statement From the Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medical Association (PALTmed) on the Use of Urine Polymerase Chain Reaction Testing for Urinary Tract Infections — JAMDA’s detailed clinical statement explaining the risks, limitations, and lack of outcome data supporting routine urine PCR testing in PALTC settings.

PDPM Coding Spike Found: Clinical Accuracy or Financial Anomaly? — This article explores whether a recent spike in Medicare coding reflects better assessments or potential overbilling under PDPM.

Improving Pharmacy Contracts — PharMerica offers practical guidance for long-term care leaders looking to evaluate and strengthen their pharmacy service agreements.

2024 Resources for Infection Preventionists in Long-Term Care — APIC’s updated toolkit provides long-term care IPs with CDC-aligned checklists, protocols, and training tools to enhance infection control programs.