Contemporary Long Term Care articles from December 1999

Contemporary Long Term Care archives from December 1999

A fond farewell.
December 1, 1999... I'M USUALLY VERY WELL ORGANIZED, but lately I've been forgetting things a lot: leaving the stove on for hours, misplacing shoes, forgetting to take my pills in the morning. The thing is, my brain has been a whirlpool of mixed emotions ever...

Shot in the arm.
December 1, 1999... Needle-safety legislation spreading nationally IN JULY, CALIFORNIA BECAME THE FIRST state to implement new regulations requiring all health care providers to protect workers by using safety-engineered devices for all sharps, including...

Wrong medicine.
December 1, 1999... Tube feeding doesn't help dementia patients RESEARCHERS HAVE CONCLUDED THAT feeding tube use in people with dementia does not prolong survival and may cause physical problems. After conducting MEDLINE searches, researchers found that...

Senate hearing one and two.
December 1, 1999... Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) held yet another hearing on nursing homes November 3. This one focused on problems related to staffing. CNAs, residents' family members, and a long term care CEO were among those who testified, covering...

HCFA Regional Offices.
December 1, 1999... A second hearing before the Senate Committee on Aging was set for November 4. The topic that day: "HCFA Regional Offices: Inconsistent, Uneven, Unfair." Senator Grassley, committee chair, was to unveil a related GAO report at the hearing.

Negative force.
December 1, 1999... "Ageist" attitudes prevail in America, say researchers from Boston's Harvard Medical School. In November's Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, they note how negative stereotypes not only affect how older people are viewed by younger...

State side.
December 1, 1999... States act on long term care issues WHEN IT COMES TO LONG TERM CARE, MOST political action continues to be at the state level. Ten or fifteen years ago that might have meant forming task forces to study the issue. Today some long term...

Dropping the ball.
December 1, 1999... Will providers be Y2K-ready on January 1? NEXT MONTH WILL TELL HOW WELL long term care providers prepared for potential Y2K technology problems, but at press time in early November, many expected a transition that was less than smooth....

Mentors in training.
December 1, 1999... Nursing assistants meet at leadership conference NEARLY 50 CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANTS from around the country learned about confidence building, problem solving, and other leadership skills at the second annual national leadership...

Going gray.
December 1, 1999... America needs to rethink aging, speaker says AMERICA NEEDS TO REDEFINE OLD AGE. That's one message from a thought-provoking recent lecture by Robert Butler, professor of geriatrics at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and president of the...

Giving back.
December 1, 1999... Lawmakers negotiate final deal to restore Medicare funding PASSAGE OF LEGISLATION MODIFYING THE Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and restoring Medicare funding to health care providers appeared almost certain at press time in early November,...

Rooms to spare.
December 1, 1999... Admissions policies don't hurt SNE access, says QIG SEVENTY-FOUR PERCENT OF NURSING HOME administrators say a patient's medical condition has become a more important factor in admissions decisions under Medicare prospective payment...

Caught short in Virginia.
December 1, 1999... Virginia nursing facilities continue to struggle with Medicaid cuts that have eroded $60 million from the state nursing home coffers since 1982. According to Stephen Morrisette, president of the Virginia Health Care Association (VHCA),...

Career Link.
December 1, 1999... Located on the American College of Health Care Administrators' Web site, [less than]www.achca.org[greater than], this recruitment resource lists national and international positions available for administrators in long term care....

Facts and Trends.
December 1, 1999... The Nursing Facility Source-book 1999 (The American Health Care Association). For the first time, the guide to long term care data provides state-by-state tables with statistics on total facilities, total nursing facilities residents, average...

2000 Calendar of Health Observances and Recognition Days.
December 1, 1999... 2000 Calendar of Health Observances and Recognition Days (American Hospital Association's Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development). Features dates and descriptions of more than 250 health-related observances from Adult...

Vetoed in California.
December 1, 1999... On October 10, California Governor Gray Davis vetoed legislation that would have brought major changes to the state's nursing homes. Introduced by Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco), Assembly Bill 1160 would have made several changes to...

SHOW TIME.
December 1, 1999... IT'S NOT ALWAYS TRUE OF TRADE shows, but the opening session of Assisted Living 1999 truly helped set the tone for the two-and-a half-day conference held jointly by ALFA and Contemporary. ALFA Chair Al Holbrook began by rallying attendees...

SHOW TIME.
December 1, 1999... THE TIMING COULDN'T HAVE BEEN more perfect. The very day of NIC's opening gala, "A Night on Wall Street," Sunrise Assisted living's stock lost over half its value, providing further grist for what would be a running theme throughout the...

What went wrong with PSOs?
December 1, 1999... THE BALANCED BUDGET ACT OF 1997 MADE IT POSSIBLE for provider sponsored organizations to contract directly with HCFA, serving Medicare beneficiaries much in the same way as traditional Medicare HMOs. Many heralded the change as an opportunity...

Shared occupancy.
December 1, 1999... If you try this path to affordability, proceed with caution ASSISTED LIVING SPONSORS AND OPERATORS HAVE GENERALLY done a good job of serving seniors with after-tax incomes of $35,000 or more. But few have managed to deliver truly...

Gray days.
December 1, 1999... Depression isn't a natural part of aging. Here's how to combat it Nurse Carol Shapiro asks the nurses and nursing assistants sitting before her to close their eyes and take a deep breath. "Imagine yourself aging," she says. "You are now...

Promoting nutrition.
December 1, 1999... University of California-San Francisco nursing professor Jeanie Kayser-Jones, PhD, is a devoted daughter and researcher who studies nursing home nutrition and eating problems. But her expertise couldn't save her mother from choking to death...

Telecare brings doctors and residents together.
December 1, 1999... IN THE SEARCH FOR COST-SAVING ALTERNATIVES FOR ELDER CARE, telecare techniques may be the answer. By technologically connecting with other health care providers and hospitals, you can not only offer a higher level of resident care, but also...

Are falls actionable under residents' rights statutes?
December 1, 1999... AN ELDERLY NURSING HOME RESIDENT FAILS FROM HER BED and is found injured on the floor of her room. The resident files a lawsuit, alleging that the home violated her "residents' rights." Does the fall constitute a violation of the resident's...

BANKRUPT!
December 1, 1999... The industry's been hammered but will adapt and survive THERE ARE THREE WORDS THAT CURRENTLY SEND SHIVERS through the nursing home industry: leverage, labor, and litigation. The last two, labor and litigation, will become increasingly...

HIV's potent cocktail.
December 1, 1999... But the drugs don't spell an end to the need for inpatient care AIDS DRUG TREATMENT HAS MOVED INTO THE ERA OF HAART, scientists' acronym for "high active antiretroviral therapy." HAART has turned a lethal disease into a manageable one,...

Sun seeks bankruptcy protection.
December 1, 1999... Just five weeks after Vencor rocked the long term care industry by filing for federal bankruptcy protection, Sun Healthcare Group and its subsidiaries followed suit. The troubled nursing home chain, which filed under Chapter 11 in Wilmington,...

Lowered earnings estimate sends Sunrise stock south.
December 1, 1999... Like most long term care companies, Sunrise Assisted Living's stock has had its ups and downs over the past year, but big declines were always dismissed by executives for the Fairfax, Virginia-based company as examples of investor...

CORPORATE LADDER.
December 1, 1999... Roswell, Georgia-based Principal Senior Living Group has named Sandra Trachsel director of operations. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Kisco Retirement Communities has named Kayda Johnson chief operating officer. Mary Johnson has...

Mariner defaults on loans, expects to be delisted.
December 1, 1999... Mariner Health Group missed interest payments due on its bank credit facility and 9 1/2 percent senior subordinated notes due 2006, and parent company Mariner Post-Acute Network has not made the interest payment on 9 1/2 percent senior...

Minding its Ks and Qs, AIC resumes trading.
December 1, 1999... Assisted living Concepts finally filed filed financial statements for 1998 and the first two quarters of 1999. The Portland, Oregon-based company also also restated its results for 1996, 1997, and the first three quarters of 1998. The...

Leaders and Laggards.
December 1, 1999... How industry stocks fared from 10/1/99 through 10/29/99 No gainers this month. The horrors of Halloween came early to the sector with assisted living disappointments and nursing home bankruptcies. The Raymond James LTC Index declined...

ACTS, 'til now a developer, acquires first CCRC.
December 1, 1999... ACTS Retirement-Life Communities, a not-for-profit owner and operator of continuing care retirement communities, signed a letter of intent to acquire First Community Village in Columbus, Ohio. When the transaction is completed, FCV will...

Ormond cleans up, but Elkins takes a bath.
December 1, 1999... Paul Ormond, chief executive of Manor Care, was the second-highest paid boss in the health care industry in 1998, according to a report on chief executive compensation published by Jenks Healthcare Business Report. Meanwhile Integrated...

Court approves Vencor's $100M DIP financing.
December 1, 1999... The U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware gave final approval to Louisville, Kentucky-based Vencor's $100 million debtor-in-possession financing. The DIP financing, which is being provided by a bank group led by Morgan Guaranty...

1999 financings expected to top $10B.
December 1, 1999... Respondents to an annual survey of seniors housing industry lenders and investors indicate that projected loan volume for 1999 will be $10.8 billion or more, an increase of 15 percent over the respondents' 1998 loan volume of $9.4 billion....

ARV settles litigation with Emeritus, Lazard.
December 1, 1999... ARV Assisted Living's lawyers have been busy. The Cost Mesa, California-based company announced the resolution of all claims and dismissal of an action brought against it by Emeritus Assisted Living. Emeritus had claimed that the combination...

Sodexho Marriott creates senior services unit.
December 1, 1999... Sodexho Marriott Services health care division will segment its long term care business into a distinct operating unit called "senior services." Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Sodexho Marriott has more than 250 clients in the senior services...

American Retirement shifts focus to acquisitions.
December 1, 1999... Nashville, Tennessee-based American Retirement Corporation announced in October that, due to a recent spike in construction costs and increasing availability of existing properties for sale at attractive prices, it is shifting its growth...

Not-for-profits' new role.
December 1, 1999... Len Fishman has served since April as president and CEO of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), a national trade group representing not-for-profit providers. He was commissioner of the New Jersey Department of...