Newsday- 

Suffolk Health Commissioner Humayun Chaudhry came under fire yesterday for a letter to residents of John J. Foley Nursing Home warning that the county may “possibly reduce the current level of service” and a “better alternative” is to transfer the complex to another operator.“I wasn’t happy with the letter,” said Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook), adding it was “way premature” as the county-run 264-bed nursing home in Yaphank is no longer part of the $65-million cutback plan now before lawmakers. 

While Chaudhry’s letter said Suffolk is “fully committed to continued quality care,” it added, “the county is unable” to run the Foley Nursing Home as well as a private entity could and “this is placing pressure on the county to possibly reduce” service. He said the home loses $12 million a year.

For the rest of the Article Click Here:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/suffolk/ny-ourtowns235659583apr22,0,1390249.story

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As we all know some Residents hate to take their  medication .This new product can detect whether they have taken it or not .

Researchers at the University of Florida are conducting trials on a device that can identify whether a patient has taken a prescribed medication on a regular basis, according to a press release from the university. The Self-Monitoring And Reporting Therapeutics (SMART™) monitor used in the HIV/AIDS trial is from Gainesville, FL-based Xhale, Inc, which says that its technology “enables the creation of a breath-detectable version of any pharmaceutical drug.” The system seems to be based on the detection of 2-butanol “taggant,” that can be incorporated into a gel capsule.

The University of Florida explains:

“The machine sits in your home and when it’s time for you to take your medication, it makes a beeping noise. If you don’t hit a button after about five minutes, it’s going to beep louder and louder until you come,” Melker said. [Dr. Richard Melker, professor of anesthesiology at the UF College of Medicine and chief technology officer for Xhale –ed.] “If you don’t come after a certain amount of time, the machine can call the clinical trial coordinator and indicate that subject or patient didn’t take the medication as prescribed.”The device, which is slightly smaller than a shoebox, records the results of each breath test, allowing patients to bring a memory card or USB key to the clinic once a month and receive a printout of their results. Eventually, the researchers hope to reduce the size of their detection device to fit inside a cell phone. But for now, they’re satisfied that the technology works.

Complements of Medgadget

http://www.medgadget.com/

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Is your facility environmentally conscious? Well most facilities aren’t.Here are a few ways your facility can potentailly  save you money while helping the environment.

• Using daylight to your advantage -this will lower your Electricity costs
• Improve your insulation-This will save you on heating costs
• Use solar power-This can save you on both!

These may cost thousands of dollars to implement and may not necessarily be cost effective right now,but in the long run it can  save you alot of money.Plus I believe you get a tax credit as well .

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This should be no news to anyone .If  our facilities are going to make the jump technologicaly, into the next century ,we will need the tech people to maintain it.This great article I saw by  Bernie Monegain , the editor of Healthcare IT Illustrates that point.

WASHINGTON- As the nation’s healthcare system moves toward automation, the need for healthcare information technology professionals in the workforce is growing. The need is deemed to be at almost 40 percent more - or 40,000 additional IT employees at U.S. healthcare facilities , according to a new study.

to read the whole article :

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9087

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As thousands of 1199SEIU members sign up for a massive march and rally on May 3^rd in solidarity with the striking workers at Kingsbridge Heights Nursing Home, the entire Bronx delegation in the State Legislature has written to NYS Health Commissioner Richard Daines urging that he take the home out of the hands of owner Helen Sieger and put it into receivership in the interest of patient care.

As the ones who vote on the Medicaid budget, the legislators are concerned that the funding is spent properly and legally.

It is known that NYS Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the state Department of Labor, the Medicaid Inspector General, as well as the Department of Health are investigating Sieger’s management of the home and unfair labor practices.

Signatories of the letter to the Department of Health were Bronx State Senators Ruben Diaz, Jose M. Serrano, Eric Schneiderman, Jeffrey Klein, Ruth Hassel-Thompson, Efrain Gonzales, Jr and Luis Diaz; and Assembly members Jeffrey Dinowitz, Aurelia Greene, Carmen Arroyo, Peter Rivera and Naomi Rivera.

Sieger cut off contractually guaranteed healthcare benefits from the workers last fall and has refused to negotiate with them, provoking a strike, now in its ninth week. In appealing to Commission Daines, the legislators cited various investigations of possible Medicaid fraud and misuse of government funding, as well as patient care issues.

http://1199seiu.org/media/news.cfm?nid=1561

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I actually am contemplating going to this..

America’s Music City is the place to be October 5-8, 2008, as long term care professionals convene for four days of valuable, results-oriented seminars, and an opportunity to interface with hundreds of top vendors in the long term care industry.

Experience hundreds of the top long term care vendors on over 56,000 square feet of exhibitor space in our expo hall. Attendees can view the numerous products and services offered by suppliers that can add value to their facility and their residents.

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This Press Release just broke from the Attorney General’s Office: 

 SYRACUSE, NY (April 17, 2008) - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that his industry-wide Medicaid fraud probe of the home health care industry has expanded to the Syracuse region with the issuance of subpoenas to 15 central New York home health care providers. In addition, the investigation, known as “Operation Home Alone,” has resulted in the conviction of a Syracuse area licensed practical nurse who falsified billings for home nursing services she never provided.

“Operation Home Alone” is the Attorney General’s long-term and statewide investigation into fraud in the home health care industry, which is one of New York’s fastest growing industries. Thus far, “Operation Home Alone” has resulted in charges against more than 80 defendants, including patients, aides, nurses, instructors, and the administrators of licensed and certified home health agencies. Defendants convicted during the investigation have been ordered to repay nearly $14 million in restitution.

“Medicaid fraud in all its forms remains a statewide problem, and my office will continue using effective approaches to weed it out in all corners of New York,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “My office’s ‘Operation Home Alone’ investigation into the home health care industry has led to prosecutions both downstate and up. Taxpayers throughout the State cannot continue to shoulder the burden of unscrupulous companies and individuals that put patients at risk and rip off all New Yorkers.

To read more:

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2008/apr/apr17a_08.html

As LTC care professionals ,what we can take from this ,is that we absolutely must be vigilant of who we refer our residents to …

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I saw this great article, on team building at Advencedweb. Kudos to Dr. Brian Garavaglia for writing such a great article. He is a long-term care administrator, gerontologist, educator and consultant in Sterling Heights, Mich.

 The importance of the team in long-term care cannot be overstated. No single individual has all the answers. For efficient management to exist, the importance of a functional team is needed. However, all too often, team building is viewed as something that just happens or that in some way mystically develops without any work needed by the participants. In reality, building a successful team is hard work. Furthermore, the hard work invested in team building often pays dividends. Finally, the work that is invested into building a successful team must happen every day and not just periodically. 

In team building, especially in the long-term care environment, the administrator is very important toward leading this effort. Their leadership is important toward sensitizing other team members to the importance of teamwork and successful team building. Furthermore, by taking the lead and demonstrating the importance of team building they lead by example, so that others are able to see how seriously building a successful team is to the facility. With the administrator being the vanguard in this effort, the importance of the team is established.

 For the rest of the Article…….

http://community.advanceweb.com/blogs/ltc_2/archive/2008/04/14/team-building-in-the-long-term-care-environment.aspx

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The physicians urge their colleagues to take an unvarnished look at EHRs even as they are championed by President Bush and companies like Microsoft and Google.

The article, written by Pamela Hartzband, MD, and Jerome Groupman, MD, who both work at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and teach at Harvard Medical School, outlines the pitfalls of using electronic records. It is published along with other articles on EHRs.

One of the major problems with EHRs, the authors say, is that they invite users to cut and paste information. While some information has to be repeated, and cutting and pasting can seem efficient, it also can compromise accuracy.

 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9081

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More Union News…….. 

The Catholic Health Systems three nursing homes started first. Five more started on April 1. Another on April 2. Across Western New York, 1199SEIU bargaining committees are sitting down at the negotiating table with nursing home employers.

“We have been getting ready for negotiations for almost a year,” says Garden Gate C.N.A and 1199 Delegate Wendy Snyder. “We’re determined to win a good contract settlement.”

1199SEIU bargaining committee members met in January at a well attended conference and voted unanimously to set four key bargaining goals. These priorities were the result of contract surveys, membership and delegate meetings conducted over the last six months.

• A fair wage increase;
• Lower cost health insurance;
• Pension improvements;
• Training and Education benefits for all nursing home workers.

“Our goal is to set a new higher standard for wages and benefits for nursing home workers across this area,” says Ros Hampton LPN and 1199 Delegate at Grace Manor. “And we’re going to do it.”

Providing care and services to the elderly in our communities is difficult work. Our nursing homes work because we do. It is simple: nursing home workers deserve better wages and benefits. As we move forward in negotiations, the employers should know that 1199 members will not settle for less.

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