Medicare/Medicaid

Minnesota Nursing Homes Seek to End the Stupor

How’s this for unconventional: The Ecumen chain of 15 Minnesota nursing homes has launched Project Awakenings, which calls for treating residents’ behavioral problems without resorting to antipsychotic drugs. The problems are real. Residents have physical and mental disorders, and they are often in pain, frightened, alone, and confused. In the worst cases, they react with […]

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Independence Among U.S. Nursing Home Residents

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services compile data about nursing homes, and about nursing home residents. Yesterday, NPR News Investigations published an interactive graphic of the level of independence among U.S. nursing home residents. This graphic is quite cool! You start by choosing an independence measure you want to examine from the residents’ ability

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Know Your Hospital Status to Prevent Medicare Confusion

Many people who wind up in a nursing home are transferred there after a hospital stay. But an article in today’s The Washington Post points out a technicality that could block your ability to have Medicare cover the cost of  your nursing home stay. Basically, everyone in the hospital is categorized as being in either

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State Calls for Fines for Britthaven of Chapel Hill Nursing Home

According to an article on WRAL.com, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has recommended that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fine Britthaven of Chapel Hill nursing home for violations that led to the hospitalization of six patients in February. One patient, 84-year-old Rachel Holliday, died. Ms. Holliday and eight

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Poor Outcome from Long-Term Acute Care Hospitalization

People recovering from serious illness used to recuperate in a traditional hospital, no matter how long it took. But in the past 15 years, a new form of hospital–the long-term acute care hospital–has emerged. These hospitals can provide intensive and specialized care for patients who don’t necessarily need all of the services offered by a

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Britthaven of Chapel Hill Death Update: Excessive Morphine

An article on the WRAL webite today reports that an excessive amount of morphine contributed to the death of a patient in the Alzheimer’s unit of Britthaven of Chapel Hill nursing home. In February, patients were drug tested when managers expressed concern about the way the patients were acting. Of 25 Alzheimer’s patients, nine tested

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Sexual Assault in a Wake Forest Assisted Living Center

The Wake Forest Care Center has been rocked by another blow to its reputation.  According to an article on the website for WRAL, a nursing assistant was arrested and charged with sexual assault on a resident who was “physically helpless.” The accused man, 42-year-old Michael Lee Brodie, was charged with sexual assault, and is being

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