the online news magazine
for the nursing home community

According to hcpro.com, officials from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said this week that they hope to announce soon the source of a salmonella outbreak associated with raw tomatoes. The salmonella outbreak has sickened at least 167 people in 17 states since April and led restaurants and grocery stores to remove some types of raw tomatoes from their menus and shelves. An FDA spokeswoman said the federal agency is getting closer to identifying the source or sources of the salmonella. The FDA warned consumers against eating certain raw tomatoes, including red plum, red Roma, or round. (more...)

According to Medill Reports, hospitals and doctor’s offices routinely install new computer systems to provide better care for their patients. With the push of a button doctors can retrieve a patient’s medical history, prescriptions and family contact information. Nursing homes, on the other hand, are being left in the dust.  The high cost and time involved in installing a computer system, and delayed funding from Medicaid, make it difficult to keep up. “We try to do most of the charting on the computer, but most is done manually,” said Zohar Hocahenbaum, owner of the Blue Island Nursing Home in Blue Island. “It’s a small facility, we do the best we can. ”Bringing nursing home care into the digital 21st century is a challenge for many nursing homes across the state.  Limited budgets and late Medicaid reimbursements make it challenging to properly care for residents, let alone invest in technology, administrators said. (more...)

According to bizjournals.com, the New York state Medicaid program will stop paying hospitals for what it calls "never events." The state has listed 14 avoidable hospital complications and errors for which reimbursement will be denied. These include surgery performed on the wrong body part; surgery performed on the wrong patient; medication errors; blood incompatibility; patient disability from burns, restraints or electric shock; and foreign objects being left, inadvertently, in a patient after surgery. (more...)

According to health.cch.com, pending cuts in Medicaid payments to hospitals will hamper hospitals’ ability to care for injured people in the event of a major catastrophe, such as a terrorist attack, according to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who held two hearings on the subject in early May. The committee also released the results of a recent survey showing that hospitals in seven cities lack sufficient emergency care capacity to respond to an attack the size of one that occurred in Madrid, where nearly 1,000 people needed treatment. (more...)

According to cbsnews.com, America’s largest senior lobby today endorsed Sen. Max Baucus’ Medicare legislation aimed at preventing scheduled cuts to doctors’ reimbursement rates, saying it protects beneficiaries from unfair premium hikes. “The bill’s improvements will directly benefit people in Medicare,” said AARP chief executive Bill Novelli.  “Physicians treating Medicare beneficiaries need to be paid fairly, however, for too long people in Medicare have seen their premiums unfairly rise as a result of stop-gap efforts to keep physicians in Medicare.  The bill offered by Chairman Baucus improves Medicare, keeps doctors in the program and does it all without unnecessary increases in premiums for people in Medicare.” The endorsement comes after AARP blasted the bill’s broad outline several weeks ago for not doing enough for beneficiaries. (more...)

According to dallasnews.com, getting the right prescription drug into the right hands at the right time can be a logistical nightmare for nursing homes, but a Grapevine-based health care technology company and a Mesquite senior living community have found a way to eliminate medication errors, slash drug costs and save nurses time. The OnSiteRx system, developed by Provider Business Solutions, combines an automated drug-dispensing machine with Web-based software that allows physicians, nurses and pharmacists to order prescriptions, check for side effects and deliver the medication to nursing home residents in minutes. "We've taken existing technologies and combined them in a way they've never been before," said Phil Elmore, president and chief executive of Christian Care Centers Inc., a nonprofit senior care organization that has tested the system at its Mesquite and Gunter, Texas, campuses. (more...)

According to reuters.com, few nursing home patients at high risk of bone fractures are given medications to strengthen their bones, a new study suggests. Researchers found that of more than 4,400 older adults admitted to a nursing home after sustaining a fracture, only 11.5 percent were prescribed a medication for the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis. This, the investigators say, is despite the fact that guidelines recommend "strong consideration" of drug therapy, beyond vitamin D and calcium, for nursing home patients at risk of fractures. (more...)

According to forbes.com, Walgreens Co. said Wednesday it will pay $35 million to the federal government, 42 states and Puerto Rico to resolve investigations related to Medicaid reimbursements for three drugs the company dispensed at its pharmacies. The Justice Department said that from 2001 through 2005 the pharmacy chain improperly switched patients to different versions of the prescriptions drugs Ranitidine, Fluoxetine and Eldepryl in order to increase its reimbursement from Medicaid. (more...)

According to sciencedaily.com, when people hear about elder abuse in nursing homes, they usually think of staff members victimizing residents. However, research by Cornell faculty members suggests that a more prevalent and serious problem may be aggression and violence that occurs between residents themselves. Although such aggression can have serious consequences for both aggressors and victims, the issue has received little attention from researchers, and few proven solutions exist to prevent resident altercations, says Karl Pillemer, director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging at the College of Human Ecology. (more...)

According to metrocorpcounsel.com, after more than five years of litigation and 22 months of negotiations, the federal government has agreed to pay $666 million to more than 660 hospitals that sued for back payments related to Medicare disproportionate share hospital funds. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, whose lead counsel was John R. Jacob, represented 70 of the hospitals and served as one of four court-appointed counsel in negotiating with the government. This is the largest Medicare reimbursement settlement in the history of the program. The settlement involved hospitals nationwide and stemmed from changes to Medicare reimbursement policy made more than 20 years ago. At issue was a controversial reimbursement policy employed by Medicare in the 1990s. (more...)

According to healthcarerepublic.com, routine dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning of patients on entry to nursing or residential homes would cut morbidity and cost of care for this at-risk group, UK research suggests. The bone mineral density (BMD) of 123 women residents in a nursing home was measured for the research, which was presented at the European Symposium on Calcified Tissues in Barcelona this week. Two thirds were found to have osteoporotic BMD. After six years' follow up, there was 84 per cent three-year survival. Of those with low BMD, 6 per cent had suffered hip fracture and 21 per cent other fractures. Only 61 per cent of those with osteoporotic bone density had started bisphosphonate treatment following the DXA scan. (more...)

According to wlbt.com, Wednesday at the State Capitol was a game of hurry up and wait. Both the House and Senate membership waited on committees to examine the Medicaid funding plan agreed upon by the state hospital association and the division of Medicaid. Eventually, one chamber passed the measure while one is still waiting to debate the issue. It took less than 24 hours from the time the legislature received the Medicaid funding plan till it passed the senate. But in a special session that can seem like an eternity. The Senate's public health and welfare committee met for several hours grilling experts on how this might affect hospitals and patients in their communities. "Do you think this is the best alternative that we have to deal with this 90 million dollar deficit," said Senator Kenneth Wayne Jones, (D) Canton. (more...)

According to Chemical & Engineering News, the Food & Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have joined forces to launch the Sentinel Initiative—a national strategy to develop an electronic, early-warning system to detect problems with approved drugs and medical devices that are already on the market. The Sentinel System will be developed through public-private partnerships. It will make use of large databases, such as Medicare's data on medical claims and prescription drug use, as well as data from other sources that agree to participate. (more...)

According to bradenton.com, a bill currently in the Senate Finance Committee will trigger the largest reform of nursing home care in more than 20 years if it becomes law. Targeted primarily at for-profit homes, the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act (S2641) would require nursing homes to clearly state ownership, standardize complaint forms, improve reporting on staffing information and replace some self-reported information with that gathered by independent audit. The bill seeks to make it easier for those looking for an appropriate nursing home for themselves or a family member to compare nursing homes. Introduced by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI) the legislation is aimed at requiring nursing homes to provide more information for consumers. (more...)

According to sfgate.com, a U.S. District court in Washington, D.C., has granted a reprieve to dozens of public hospitals across the nation that were facing $5 billion in cuts for treatments they provide to the poor. Although Congress last year called for a one-year moratorium on the cuts to the federal Medicaid program, the Bush administration attempted to sidestep the legislators by implementing the cuts through its rule-making procedures. On Friday, the court held that Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt was out of line when he published an "emergency" regulation to implement the cuts just before President Bush signed an omnibus law that included Congress' moratorium. (more...)

According to commercialappeal.com, Karen Northcott was driving to work Friday morning when a gasoline tanker truck rumbling toward her on narrow Appling Road in Bartlett pitched violently to its right, then flipped. "Next thing I knew, the wheels were up in the air. ... It was completely upside down," she said. Several hundred feet from the upturned truck and its thousands of gallons of gas sits the King's Daughters and Sons Home, with its 104 disabled residents, 81 of them wheelchair-bound. Over the next hour, a frenzied-but-controlled emergency evacuation got all the residents to safety, with little disruption. Though "shaking like a leaf," Northcott, a registered nurse, ran to the truck to help the driver. "I could hear the sound of someone scrambling in the cab," she said. (more...)

According to dotmed.com, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the names of the 325 suppliers that have signed contracts with Medicare to provide certain medical equipment and supplies to beneficiaries in 10 communities across the U.S. at significantly lower prices than they are paying now. "We are pleased that Medicare beneficiaries living in the 10 first round communities will continue to receive high quality service and supplies from the suppliers participating in Medicare's competitive bidding program," said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. "All of these contract suppliers have met our stringent standards, so beneficiaries can be assured they receive their equipment and supplies from legitimate suppliers." (more...)

According to emaxhealth.com, The Chicago Tribune on Sunday examined how, "with soaring costs of prescription drugs, housing, gasoline and groceries, it is easy for seniors on fixed incomes to go over budget." According to experts, many seniors depend on Social Security payments, pensions and personal savings and "cannot keep up with inflation," and, to "keep up with the rising costs of prescription drugs and medical payments not covered by Medicare, retirees have accumulated more debt than ever," the Tribune reports. In response, groups such as AARP and the Legal Aid Society have offered programs to help seniors with financial problems. (more...)

According to mcknights.com, many in the nursing home field have been taken aback by the Government Accountability Office report released last week. Now one state, which ranks among the worst in the country in terms of nursing home inspections, according to the report, is speaking out against the GAO's findings. The survey conducted by the GAO does not accurately depict the way inspections are conducted in the Sooner State, the Oklahoma State Health Department said. (more...)

According to bizjournals.com, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Monday released the names of the 325 suppliers that have signed contracts with Medicare to provide certain medical equipment and supplies to beneficiaries in Kansas City and nine other communities throughout the country at significantly lower prices than Medicare pays now. The suppliers were selected based on a competitive bidding process conducted in 10 U.S. metropolitan areas, including Kansas City. The bids were solicted in 10 product categories, which include various types of durable medical equipment, orthotics, prosthetics and supplies. A list of the selected contract suppliers in the Kansas City area can be found online. "We are pleased that Medicare beneficiaries living in the 10 first-round communities will continue to receive high-quality service and supplies from the suppliers participating in Medicare's competitive bidding program," CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems said in a release. (more...)

According to medicalnewstoday.com, AARP issued a statement following today's House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on nursing home safeguards. The statement, from AARP Legislative Policy Director David Certner, follows: "We thank the subcommittee for its work to protect the 1.5 million older Americans who rely on nursing homes for their care. Hearings like the one held today are an important part of ensuring that quality and safety are the top priorities for nursing homes, regardless of their ownership. Families should never have to worry about the safety of their loved ones who receive care in a nursing home. (more...)

According to McKnights.com, House and Senate Democrats have agreed upon a $3.3 trillion budget blueprint that does not include some potentially harmful funding cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. The blueprint, which functions as a guide for Congress to use when allocating money for government programs and appropriations bills, lays the groundwork for a balanced budget by 2012, Democrats say. Both the House and Senate could approve the measure as early as next week, according to Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. (more...)

According to timesleaderonline.com, National Nursing Home Week kicked off on Mother’s Day and will conclude on Saturday featuring the theme “Love is Ageless.” The weeklong celebration was established in 1967 by the American Health Care Association (AHCA). Facilities nationwide have planned numerous activities designed to foster intergenerational relationships, collect and preserve patient's reminiscences, strengthen relationships with family members, celebrate quality, and recognize all staff members who demonstrate excellent care giving. (more...)

According to the Associated Press, Democrats controlling Congress are leaving grim decisions on automatic tax increases to the next president and the newly elected Congress under a freshly negotiated House-Senate blueprint for the upcoming budget year. The fiscal 2009 budget plan worked out in private talks between House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt Jr., D-S.C., and his Senate counterpart, Kent Conrad, D-N.D., awards an approximately 4 percent increase on average to nondefense Cabinet budgets passed by Congress each year. But it makes no effort to rein in the rapidly rising cost of federal benefit programs such as Medicare. Conrad told reporters Tuesday that he anticipates the nonbinding budget plan would pass both House and Senate by the end of next week. He declined to reveal key details. (more...)

According to courant.com, for months, state Sen. Edith Prague rallied support for nursing-home reforms from Democratic leaders and advocates for the elderly, telling anyone who would listen that "this is the year" for improvements to minimum-staffing requirements and stronger oversight of the industry. This wasn't the year. When the legislature adjourned at midnight Wednesday, it left more than a dozen proposals to increase nursing-home staffing levels, enforcement and financial accountability on the table. We got nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing," said Prague, D-Columbia, who has tried for a decade to increase the state's outdated minimum-staffing requirement for nursing homes, which is among the lowest in the country. (more...)