Contemporary Long Term Care articles from April 1999

Contemporary Long Term Care archives from April 1999

The winners' circle.
April 1, 1999... MY MOTHER, WHO COMES FROM STOIC SWEDISH-GERMAN STOCK, taught me never to brag. Well, it's a good thing Mom doesn't read this magazine. The Jesse H. Neal awards are known as the Pulitzer Prize of trade journalism. That's because the...

Executive report.
April 1, 1999... Len Fishman accepts AAHSA's top post THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF HOES and Services for the Aging has appointed Len Fishman as its new president and chief executive officer. Fishman, 47, an attorney and commissioner of the New Jersey...

Death wishes.
April 1, 1999... Facility policies should address end-of-life care N NURSING HOME POLICIES MAY NEED TO be rewritten to encourage end-of-life treatment discussions between physicians and residents, say the authors of a study that appeared in the January...

A good shot.
April 1, 1999... A good shot. The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists announced March 5 that they will spearhead a collaborative effort to promote the use of immunizations for influenza and pneumonia for all nursing home residents. The American Health...

An ounce of prevention.
April 1, 1999... An ounce of prevention. Hospital caregivers could be doing more to prevent delirium among elderly patients, suggests an article in the March 4 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Simple steps such as providing ample fluids, taking...

The good news.
April 1, 1999... HMOs have potential to improve primary care INNOVATIVE HMO NURSING HOME PROGRAMS may have the potential to keep more nursing home residents out of emergency rooms and hospitals, ultimately providing better care at a lower cost than...

And the bad news?
April 1, 1999... Managed care brings down traditional Medicare spending THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD. WHEN managed care moves into an area, health care spending appears to drop for Medicare beneficiaries served by the traditional fee-for-service program,...

Top 10 List.
April 1, 1999... You know your market is getting overbuilt when... 10. Secret shoppers outnumber real prospects. 9. A competitor lures away your marketing director with a large signing bonus. 8. There is a separate Yellow Pages book just for...

Happy faces.
April 1, 1999... New tool helps measure quality of life in nursing homes A RESIDENT SATISFACTION SURVEY FUNDED by the National Institutes of Health and backed by the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging is expected to he ready for the...

Silent killer.
April 1, 1999... Alzheimer's disease may be killing many more people each year than the widely held estimate of 100,000. In fact, it is on a par with cerebrovascular diseases as the third leading cause of death In the U.S., says a report published in the...

Revisiting rehab payments under PPS.
April 1, 1999... Proposed legislation may loosen therapy cap LEGISLATION RECENTLY INTRODUCED IN THE Senate may help loosen the $1,500 annual cap on Medicare nonhospital outpatient rehab services, including those provided by skilled nursing facilities. The...

The right direction.
April 1, 1999... Industry representatives praise Clinton program as a good start INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES VIEW THE PRESident's plan as a modest attempt to address large problems of access and cost, but a step in the right direction-- and a plan that has a...

Get with the program.
April 1, 1999... Report on Medicare delayed, but consumers voice preferences ADDING COVERAGE FOR LONG TERM CARE and prescription drugs are two modifications to Medicare that Americans appear to support, even as they agree on little else that should be...

Y2K.
April 1, 1999... Y2K: Get Ready Guide for Long Term Care (American Health Care Association). AHCA's guide gives step-by-step preparations for dealing with Year 2000 computer problems that may affect payment from government agencies or vendors, or equipment such...

Planning Guide.
April 1, 1999... Planning Guide: Caring for People Every Day (Career Nursing Assistants' Programs). Celebrate the 14th National Nursing Assistants' Week, June 3 to 10, with the help of this guide. It includes a sample news release, planning guide for events,...

Building a Positive Public Image.
April 1, 1999... Building a Positive Public Image: A Public Relations Handbook for Aging Services (American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging). Tired of reading bad news about long term care? This publication aims to help you share the good work...

Tort reform in Florida.
April 1, 1999... Florida lawmakers are expected to vote this month on a bill that would cap punitive damages in negligence cases. Good news for nursing homes? Probably not. At press time in early March. lawmakers favored exempting them from the provision. ...

Raising Connecticut.
April 1, 1999... Nursing homes in Connecticut may soon have more money to devote to staffing. Connecticut Governor John Rowland is expected to sign in early April his legislative proposal to increase Medicaid rates by 10 percent a year for each of the next two...

Keeping it real.
April 1, 1999... The public policy coordinator for the South Carolina chapters of the Alzheimer's Association, William Painter is a long term care consultant. He spent 12 years working in long term care, mostly as an activity director in nursing homes. ...

Rehabilitating your rehab.
April 1, 1999... Marilyn Rosee, MS, OTR, is executive director of Therapeutic Resources, a New York City-based staffing and management company. A three-pronged approach to success under PPS THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE WORKED IN LONG TERM CARE FOR any length...

Don't be a slave to wages.
April 1, 1999... A contributing writer to Contemporary Long Term Care, Jim Moore is president of Moore Diversified Services, a Fort Worth-based senior housing and health care consulting firm, and author of Assisted Living 2000. To control labor costs,...

Going postal.(employee violence)
April 1, 1999... Wendy L. Bonifazi, RN, is a contributing writer to Contemporary Long Term Care. IT MAY START WITH SILENT VIOLENCE. AN EMPLOYEE IS angry because a day off was denied. Another takes offense at suggestions. Others are infuriated when they...

The CLTC 50-plus.(Contemporary Long Term Care)
April 1, 1999... Nursing chains hunkered down while assisted living forged ahead Call 1998 a tale of two sectors. Among nursing home chains, two new powerhouses resulted from mergers: HCR Manor Care and Mariner Post-Acute Network. But more chains were...

Nursing facilities.
April 1, 1999... Nursing facilities '98 '99 RANK RANK CHAIN Beds owned, managed or leased 1 1 Beverly Enterprises 62,293 Fort Smith, AR -- 2 Mariner...

Assisted living.
April 1, 1999... Assisted living '98 '99 Units owned, Percent change RANK RANK CHAIN managed, or leased since 12/97 2 1 Alterra Healthcare Corp. ...

Putting patient care first.
April 1, 1999... Kristine M. Cerchiara is vice president and CIO, information systems, and Nancy Stoddard, RN, is associate director, information systems, at The Jewish Home & Hospital in New York City. Carol Bloom is senior systems analyst at SCI, a Fort Lee,...

Medical directors revisited.
April 1, 1999... A contributing writer to Contemporary Long Term Care, Marie Infante is an attorney with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Powers, Pyles, Sutter & Verville. New responsibilities under PPS require a new contract AS NURSING FACILITY...

Rebuilding strong bones.
April 1, 1999... Katherine J. Paul is a freelance writer based in Hiram, Ohio. Treatment may help prevent millions of fractures WITH THE NUMBER OF AMERICANS WITH LOW BONE MASS projected to be at 41 million by 2001, it's no surprise that drug makers are...

New warning.(Parkinson's drug therapy)
April 1, 1999... New warning. Note the new label on the Parkinson's drug Tasmar (Hoffman-LaRoche). A warning--prompted by instances of several and fatal liver failure in patients taking the drug, now stresses that it should be used only as an adjunct therapy....

Testing.(Alzheimer's disease drug therapy)
April 1, 1999... Testing. NeoTherapeutics reports positive results from Phase 2 clinical trials of Neotrofin (AIT-082, leteprinim potassium), a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Pre-clinical studies have shown that the drug can restore brain function in...

Number one.
April 1, 1999... Number one. Long term care pharmacy executives rate Merck the best overall pharmaceutical company, according to a recent audit by Scott-Levin. Merck ranked second, behind 'Pfizer in number of long term cafe contacts.

Analyst's concerns send assisted living stocks reeling.
April 1, 1999... February was a stormy month for assisted living stocks. And everyone is hurling thunderbolts at the analyst they say bears responsibility. "We believe that the stocks are unlikely to be valued on a fundamental basis during this time as...

C0RPORATE LADDER.
April 1, 1999... Costa Mesa, California-based ARV Assisted Living Inc. has named Robertson K. Chandler senior vice president of operations. Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania-based Balanced Care Corporation has brought in Stephen Marcus, Paul Kruis, and Douglas...

IHS sells home health division.
April 1, 1999... Owings Mills, Maryland-based Integrated Health Services Inc. has sold its home health nursing division to Medshares/IHS Acquisition Inc. an affiliate of Medshares Inc. Medshares, located in Memphis, Tennessee, is a privately held multi-state...

CareMatrix announces share repurchase program.
April 1, 1999... CareMatrix Corporation announced a share repurchase program in which the Needham, Massachusetts-based assisted living company will offer to purchase up to one million shares of its outstanding common stock from time to time in open market...

Mariner president, COO resigns.
April 1, 1999... Arthur W. Stratton, president and chief operating officer of Mariner Post-Acute Network Inc. has resigned from the Atlanta-based nursing home chain in order to participate in the start up of several health care ventures. Stratton will continue...

Vencor obtains bank covenant waiver.
April 1, 1999... Teetering on the brink of insolvency, Louisville, Kentucky-based nursing home giant Vencor Inc. has obtained the necessary approval from its bank lending group to secure a covenant waiver related to its $800 million credit facility through...

Complete Care to manage 11 Cleveland-area SNFs.
April 1, 1999... Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Complete Care Services' Midwestern subsidiary, CCS Midwest Inc., has signed long term management contracts with the new owners of 11 nursing homes in greater Cleveland. The homes were recently acquired by Absecon...

Sun Healthcare settles reimbursement dispute.
April 1, 1999... SunRise Healthcare Corporation, a subsidiary of Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Sun Healthcare Group Inc., has settled a reimbursement dispute with the Connecticut department of Social Services. The dispute involved certain home office cost...

Record prices paid for ALFs in 1998.
April 1, 1999... The average price paid for assisted living facilities in 1998 hit record levels for the second year in a row. As for nursing homes, after a 4 percent decline in 1997 from the record set in 1996, the prices paid per bed rebounded slightly last...

Capital Senior Living to buy ILM Senior Living I, II.
April 1, 1999... Dallas-based Capital Senior Living Corporation has entered into merger agreements with ILM Senior Living Inc. I and II for a combined transaction value of about $170 million. Taken together, ILM I and II will add about 13 communities totaling...

Aureus Group buys eight ALFs from Marriott.(assisted living facilities)
April 1, 1999... Dallas-based Aureus LLC has agreed to purchase eight Brighton Gardens assisted living communities from Marriott International Inc. for $140 million in cash. Aureus Group develops and acquires senior living communities across the U.S. in...

ALC buys remaining interests in 17 ALFs.(Assisted Living Concepts, Inc.)
April 1, 1999... Assisted Living Concepts Inc., has purchased, for about $3.8 million, the remaining interest in its joint venture arrangements related to 17 facilities. The Portland, Oregon-based company announced that it has no intention of entering into...

Alternative Living Services to become 'Alterra'.
April 1, 1999... Alternative Living Services has announced plans to change its name to Alterra Healthcare Corp. William Lasky, president and CEO of the Brookfield, Wisconsin-based assisted living provider, said in a prepared statement that the new name...

Interest rates lowest for congregate, CCRCs.(congregate care retirement communities)
April 1, 1999... Lower interest rates are generally available, but the market is very property-specific at this time. That was the conclusion of Jeffrey Davis, president of Cambridge Realty Capital Ltd., in the Chicago-based senior housing lender's Healthcare &...

Omega invests $25.9M with TLC Health Care.
April 1, 1999... Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Omega Healthcare Investors Inc., a real estate investment trust, announced a transaction involving $25.9 million with Culver City, California-based TLC Health Care Inc. The transaction involved the purchase for...

Better care for the dying.
April 1, 1999... What do you think of the quality of care for the dying that's being given in nursing homes today? Lynn: Some nursing homes have, for one reason or another-an inspired leader, a long tradition, religious roots, or whatever-extraordinarily...