New Long-Term Care Legislation Passes in Oregon
“The Oregon state legislature recently passed House Bill 3359 (HB 3359), which is meant to improve the quality and safety of long-term care settings statewide,” Skilled Nursing News reports. “The bill, for instance, mandates that all administrators of residential care facilities, including assisted living and memory care communities, receive licenses from an independent board prior to July 2019. Additionally, the bill introduces new penalties for facilities, including for ‘Failure to perform corrective action noted during a survey or inspection’ and ‘Failure to report suspected abuse.’”
How Hospitals Can Forge Effective Ties With Nursing Homes
“In the new world of value-based health care, success for hospitals increasingly depends on partnering with nursing homes and other post-acute-care providers that can play a big role in improving a patient’s overall quality of care after discharge and in minimizing hospital readmissions. Minimizing readmissions is important, because Medicare penalizes hospitals for excessive return stays within 30 days of discharge on the grounds that they may indicate problems with the quality of care received during the first admission or a lack of care co-ordination after the patient leaves the hospital. That means hospitals must have strong collaborations with nursing homes, also known as skilled nursing facilities, or SNFs, and must be able to depend on them to perform effective work,” according to the Tennessean. The article discusses certain factors of the relationship between the two organizations, including the challenges of relying strictly on data, the hospital’s role in patient transitions after discharge, care transitions, and medical review programs.
Virginia United Methodist Homes Changes Name to Pinnacle Living
“Henrico County-based Virginia United Methodist Homes Inc. changed its name to Pinnacle Living,” reports Richmond Times-Dispatch. “The company said it made the name change to Pinnacle Living after three years of deliberation. The change stemmed from the ‘strong negative perception to the word ‘homes’ in the former name. Today’s seniors do not want to live in a ‘home,’ the company said in a statement. Virginia United Methodist Homes was founded in 1948 by leaders of the Virginia United Methodist Church. Since then, the company has grown to owning and operating seven senior living communities across Virginia, housing 1,240 residents.”
Inventory Growth Knocks Assisted Living Occupancy to Lowest Point Since 2009
“Occupancy rates for assisted living communities reached their lowest point in eight years in the second quarter, driven down by inventory growth that outpaced healthy absorption rates, according to data released Wednesday [July 12] by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care’s MAP Data Service,” according to McKnight’s Senior Living. “‘The softening of occupancies for both assisted living and independent living is the result of their inventory growth, or unit completions, surpassing their relatively healthy annual rates of absorption of units, including the record pace of absorption for assisted living,’ Chuck Harry, NIC’s chief of research and analytics, said in a statement.”
Nursing Home Employees Praised for Saving Nursing Home Residents During Facility Fire
“Two skilled nursing employees were credited this week with rushing into ‘heavy smoke conditions’ and pulling two occupants to safety, according to local reports. The fire at Courville at Nashua was reported at 2 a.m. Sunday and contained to a second-floor room. One resident was taken to an area hospital for possible smoke inhalation, but he was expected to recover,” McKnight’s reports. “The 100-bed Courville at Nashua is part of Courville Communities. Neither rescuer wished to be identified local officials said. More than half of the 90 residents were taken to a nearby Kindred facility while damaged parts of Nashua facility were under repairs.”
