Healthcare Reform Provision Helps Lawsuits Against Nursing Homes
A little known provision of President Obama’s Healthcare Reform Act is designed to help plaintiffs and their attorneys bring legal action against nursing homes for alleged neglect and abuse. With the demographic transformation of America toward an aging society, lawsuits against nursing homes have surged. In response some privately owned nursing homes have developed complex corporate structures that obscure who controls the facilities, making it difficult for attorneys …Read More
Downloadable Resources for MDS 3.0 Section M: Skin Conditions
I received so many inquiries about resources for skin assessment in the nursing home that I devoted this blog post to providing links and downloads useful to wound care clinicians. Below you can access PDFs which contain important information related to skin, pressure ulcer, and wound assessment that will be helpful to nurses, doctors, medical directors, inservice directors, MDS coordinators, and anyone else interested in this very important topic. As you probably know, …Read More
Teaching America How to Assess Wounds
Last week I presented at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s (CMS) Train-the-Trainer program in Las Vegas for the introduction of Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 which will go into effect October 1, 2010. This assessment tool will impact 17,000 nursing homes and 1.6 million people who reside in them across America. My assignment was to introduce Section M: Skin Condition, which represents the assessment for pressure …Read More
Long-Term Care Update: Resident Assessment Radically Changes with MDS 3.0
Hear ye! Hear Ye! RAPs are out! CATs and CAAs are in! I chuckle as I write this blog post knowing that few of my regular readers will understand, and have probably clicked off by now. But the few of you who remain know how important this topic is to long-term care. On October 30, 2009 CMS finally released the RAI Users Manual V 3.0 which …Read More
Update on Blister Pressure Ulcer Staging from CMS for MDS 3.0 Section M: Skin Conditions
Another guest blog post by Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CWON, MAPWCA, FAAN Good news! Since the educational training programs held last March and April, CMS has reconsidered its original guidance regarding how to code blister pressure ulcers on the revised Minimum Data Set (MDS) version 3.0. Previously, CMS directed that any pressure ulcer that presents as a blister regardless of what type of …Read More
Elizabeth Ayello PhD, RN Blogs on MDS 3.0 sDTI Coding
Another guest post by Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CWON, MAPWCA, FAAN. I was pleased with the response to my first guest post on Dr. Levine’s healthcare blog. One question in particular regarding suspected deep tissue injury (sDTI), written by Laura DiGiulio CWOCN, particularly deserves comment. Laura asked: “I would like some guidance about how to integrate the new MDS3.0 guidelines related to staging …Read More
Long Term Care Preparing for MDS 3.0
Guest Post by Elizabeth A. Ayello, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CWON, MAPWCA, FAAN. Are you ready for the changes in MDS 3.0, Section M: Skin Condition? Having just developed the slide materials and provided the instruction on this for the CMS “Train the Trainer” programs in April 2010, I strongly believe that because section M is expanded to three pages, now is the time for clinicians, …Read More
Nursing Home Care in Australia
I recently spoke on geriatrics, humanistic medicine, and art at The International Arts and Health Conference in Port Macquarie, Australia. Because I spent so much of my medical career in long-term care, I sought out the opportunity to visit a nursing home to speak with staff and make comparisons on how we do things in the States. I also had lunch with one of the physicians whose practice …Read More
Pressure Ulcer Regulations in the Nursing Home: Introduction to Revised F-Tag 314
Care delivered in nursing homes is highly regulated, particularly for pressure ulcers. Whatever your opinion of government regulation, laws governing nursing homes undoubtedly provide added protection for these vulnerable adults across America. This post will provide a basic explanation of regulations covering pressure ulcers in the nursing home which have been recently revised and expanded. But first I will provide some definitions of terms. Nursing …Read More
