Contemporary Long Term Care articles from October 1999

Contemporary Long Term Care archives from October 1999

Get with the program.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY HAS THE shelf life of sushi in the Sudan. While refrigerators, washer-dryers, and televisions are built to last a good ten years, desktop computers become obsolete after about three, and software is upgraded at about the...

Relief in sight.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Senate measure to boost PPS payments A BILL DESIGNED TO BOOST MEDICARE payment to skilled nursing facilities for Some patient categories could become law as early as this month, although concerns about how to pay for it could delay...

A new standard.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... JGAHO targets pain management STAFF AT HOSPITALS AND LONG TERM facilities may soon find it easier to diagnose and manage patients' pain symptoms. Identifying pain as an "unnecessary" health problem, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of...

A military man.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... At press time in early September, industry insiders were buzzing about the American Health Care Association's decision to hire as its new president U.S. Air Force Surgeon General Charles H. Roadman II. But Contemporary hadn't heard a word from...

Big money.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Groups including the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care, labor unions, and senior citizens' advocates were gearing up in late August for a $50 million lobbying campaign. The goal: to influence the Medicare debate. The effort is one of the...

Tool of the trade.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... New data will let adult day track outcomes THE WAY RICK ZAWADSKI SEES IT, IF there's no way to measure how you re doing as an adult day provider, there's no way you're going to improve your services. That's why this 25-year veteran of the...

On the alert.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Initiative will help fight malnutrition in nursing homes FRONTLINE CAREGIVERS AND OTHERS ARE now equipped with a new set of tools to combat malnutrition in elders. A coalition of health care and government groups developed the tools, called...

Old soldiers.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Act would boost veterans' long term care options THE NEEDS OF A LOOMING BOOM OF AGING vets in need of long term care have spurred ambitious plans for reform of an ailing veterans health care system. But those plans face an uncertain future...

A long shot.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Bill would extend Medicare to chronic care THREE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMEN HAVE introduced the Omnibus Long Term Care Act of 1999 (H.R. 2691), which proposes a series of new benefits to move Medicare from being only an acute care program to...

Converting in Nebraska.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Construction is under way at several skilled nursing facilities in Nebraska, the first recipients of state grants to convert nursing home beds to assisted living units. The $40 million grant program, approved last year by the legislature,...

Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trials Database.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Trials Database (National Institute on Aging). The NIA, in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has developed a searchable database of Alzheimer's disease and dementia clinical trials. The...

Solving Bathing Problems in Persons with Alzheimer's Disease.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Solving Bathing Problems in Persons with Alzheimer's Disease (Geriatric Video Productions). This video teaches staff to individualize bathing and covers basics such as dealing with residents who don't want to get undressed, refuse to get into...

Train the Mentor.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... A Training Program for Nursing Assistants by Mark Noble and Linda Judge (Simon & Kolz). Written by a long term care administrator and a training professional, this is a scripted facilitator's manual for facility staff to train nursing...

Assisted Living Administration.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Assisted Living Administration by James E. Allen (Springer Publishing Company). This book covers the five areas of management the National Association of Boards of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators has recommended assisted living...

More choice in Pennsylvania.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... It's high time for assisted living. That's the main conclusion of a new report released in late July by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging's Intra-Governmental Council on LongTerm Care. The report recommends that the state shift Medicaid...

JUST THE FACTS.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... What: Nursing Home Pioneers '99: Frustration to Pride Where: Riverside Convention Center, Rochester, New York When: August 19-21 Number of attendees 360 SOME PEOPLE HAVE TRAVELED FARther than others on the journey to make...

The silent scream.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... The family did the right thing. So why does it feel so wrong? IT HAPPENED VERY SUDDENLY AND WAS PERHAPS THE MOST violent act in which I have ever participated. A space became available and we had to grab it or risk waiting months for...

Final rule addresses (some) industry concerns about PPS.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... HCFA'S LONG-AWAITED FINAL RULE REGARDING MEDICARE'S prospective payment system and consolidated billing for skilled nursing facilities was the agency's opportunity to address industry concerns about the interim final rule it had issued 14...

The battle for market share.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Don't count on the age wave to lift all boats WE'VE ALL SEEN THE NUMBERS: IN THE EARLY YEARS OF the new millennium, the number of elderly people will rise dramatically, creating a bigger market for long term care providers. But in the turf...

Is rehab killing recreation?(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Just plain fun isn't what it used to be THE NEW ACTIVITY DIRECTOR TOSSED A HUGE BAIL BACK AND FORTH TO THE CIRCLE OF RESIDENTS SURROUNDING HER. IT COULD HAVE BEEN ALMOST ANY NURSING HOME IN THE PAST 30 YEARS--UNTIL YOU LISTENED. THE USUAL...

Integration now, integration forever.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... A seamless flow of information can cut costs, paperwork, and error rates THE PROS AND CONS OF LONG TERM CARE'S SHIFT TO A prospective payment system will be debated well into the next millennium, but its effects have already been profound....

Improving patient care.
October 1, 1999... Technology can better the lives of residents and staff IT'S A TYPICAL DAY AT BEECHWOOD HOME, A not-for-profit skilled nursing facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. Residents are busy going about their daily routines: exercising, lifting weights,...

Providers in cyberspace.
October 1, 1999... Facilities go on-line to buy goods, bring in new business FOR PETER KRESS, THE VISIONARY DIRECtor of information systems at ACTS Retirement-Life Communities, Internet technology is "the future." Three years ago, ACTS, a not-for-profit chain...

Microsoft bullish on seniors.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... The software giant is trying to entice elders onto the Net MICROSOFT, A CORPORATION WITH OBVIOUS MOTIVES FOR increasing computer use among all age groups, has a program aimed exclusively at seniors. The software giant has developed a number...

Congress drops the ball.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... HHS begins drafting health privacy regulations THE FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING the collection, use, and transmission of the minimum data set and other health information are a patchwork of protections that are...

Errors and omissions.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... Study looks to survey for insights on drug errors ERRORS IN MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION ARE ALL TOO COMMON in long term care facilities, a fact that's documented in health care-related journals. Mistakes can occur when a drug is prescribed,...

Nursing home chains stabilize but still struggling.(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... If you're looking for a silver lining in skilled nursing's quarterly revenues and profitability, compare the most recent quarter ending June 30 with the previous quarter ending on March 31. "Aggregate revenues were off only about 1 percent,...

CORPORATE LADDER.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Markham, Ontario-based Extendicare Inc. has named Mel Rhinelander president and chief operating officer. The company's current president and CEO, Dr. Joy Calkin, will become deputy chairman of the board of directors until her retirment next...

Leaders and Laggards.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... How industry stocks fared from 8/1/99 through 8/31/99 August marked another difficult month for the long term care sector. The Raymond James Long Term Care Index declined 9.0% compared with the Russell 2000, which dropped 2.6% even as the...

Genesis announces revised Multicare joint venture.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Genesis Health Ventures Inc. has reached an agreement in principle with its co-investor partners in Genesis ElderCare Corp., parent of The Multicare Companies, to simplify the joint-venture structure and speed up integration of Genesis and...

Emeritus announces strong occupancy gains.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... Seattle-based Emeritus Assisted Living said that in July it had the greatest number of net admissions to the company's 123 facilities in any one month in its history. Net occupancy increased by 250 units, or 2 percent, to 80 percent for the...

CareMatrix considers going private.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... The board of directors of CareMatrix Corporation, a Needham, Massachusetts-based assisted living company, has instructed management to explore entering into a leveraged recapitalization or other strategic alterative to maximize shareholder...

Health care venture capital dollars up 28%.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... Venture capital dollar flows directed toward health care companies increased 28 percent since the first quarter of 1999, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities/Shattuck Hammond Partners. But the health care industry's...

Fewer mergers in home health, therapy, pharmacy.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... For the 12 months ending June 30, merger and acquisition volume dropped by nearly 50 percent in the home health and contract therapy sectors, with institutional pharmacy not far behind, according to a report by Irving Levin Associates, a New...

HCPI to merge with AHP creating $3B market cap.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 1999... Two real estate investment trusts, Health Care Property Investors Inc. and American Health Properties Inc., have signed a definitive agreement by which HCPI will merge with AHP in a stock-for-stock transaction. The stockholders of AHP will...

HRPT announces revised spin-off plan.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... HRPT Properties Trust has a new plan for separating its office properties from its senior housing and health care real estate. The Newton, Massachusetts-based real estate investment trust has about $3.2 billion of investments, of which about...

Beverly tentatively settles civil, criminal probes.(Beverly Enterprises Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Beverly Enterprises says that up to 10 of its facilities could be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid programs under a settlement following a probe of its Medicare operations. The Fort Smith, Arkansas-based provider, which has been under...

Texas SNF chain files for bankruptcy protection.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Texas Health Enterprises, the state's second-largest nursing home chain, filed a petition for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, citing inadequate government reimbursement and inability to renegotiate its...

Aurum network adds Boston-based non-profit.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Burlington, Massachusetts-based Aurum Network, the largest group of independently owned postacute providers in Massachusetts, has added Paradigm Healthcare Alliance LLC, a consortium of not-for-profit Boston nursing homes with three Boston...

Software progress report.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Why does long term care lag behind other industries in embracing technology? Odom: Number one, our industry doesn't have a lot of money. We're not like the acute care industry, with significant revenues that we can put into IS [information...

The last word.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Final rule clarifies, but providers push for more INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES WERE GENERally disappointed with HCFA's final rule on prospective payment and consolidated billing, published July 30 in the Federal Register [for details, see...