The Bush administration advocated the need to rate nursing homes on a similar ranking system to that found in the hotel and restaurant industry. At first blush this seems an intuitively simple and consumer friendly system. Why not have consumers that are looking to place their loved ones in nursing homes have a simple system of one through ...

Two weeks ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, our first child. In such a short time, we have learned so much from this beautiful, tiny newborn. She has made us so happy and kept us very busy. Prior to her birth, I was told that babies eat every two hours during the night. I never knew what that would feel like on my ...

Fall-induced traumatic brain injuries caused almost 8,000 deaths and 56,000 hospitalizations in 2005 among Americans 65 and older, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the June issue of the Journal of Safety Research. In 2005, TBIs were responsible for 50 percent of unintentional fall deaths and 8 percent of nonfatal ...

The operations budget, while based in part on expenses, is also based on revenue projections.  Clearly we would not knowingly budget to spend more than we expect to earn from a product or service and so we budget accordingly.  In general, we do not expect to have a great deal of money left over from revenues received after deducting all ...

Alzheimer's Disease is a progressive and debilitating disease that often leads to a person's inability to understand and be aware of their conscious existence. As a disease it is incurable and due to its inevitable progression, leads to one of the most frightening human conditions that exists. However, Alzheimer's disease and many ...

Acting under his authority in the Public Health Service Act, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today declared a public health emergency in the flood-stricken states of Iowa and Indiana. The action gives CMS Medicare beneficiaries and their health care providers greater flexibility in meeting emergency health needs, according to an HHS news ...

Long-term care facilities are respected for their role in caring for seniors when they (and their families) are no longer able to provide for themselves at home. Some facilities across the country are providing another refuge for seniors who have been abused. Reports of elder abuse have reached 472,813 in 2000, the latest number available, ...

Next week is National Nursing Assistant Appreciation week! It is a wonderful time to let CNAs know how important they are to you, your residents and to your organization. How are you celebrating your CNA staff? Do you have a special meal planned, are you delivering gift of appreciation or did you write personal thank you notes? Have ...

Health care administrators have to understand the psychology of the people that they interface with daily. A cooperative management environment is essential for the continuity of sound health care.  However, to do so, administrators must understand something about the personnel psychology that exists among their managers and other ...

Sleep apnea is a virtually undocumented condition in America's nursing homes, according to new research report from the Institute for the Future of Aging Services (IFAS). The IFAS report is an analysis of data from the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey, which reviewed medical records of a representative sample of the 1.49 million nursing home ...