Business Strategies

Super-utilizers: LTC has them too

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: Super-utilizers: LTC has them too I was flying home after visiting some family elders last week (a story itself perhaps for another time) when I happened upon a Kaiser Health News article about “super-utilizers” of emergency room services. Research on Medi-Cal, California’s state health insurance for … Read more

Creating a dialysis-friendly facility

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: Creating a dialysis-friendly facility Studies show there will be an increasing number of people on dialysis in the coming years. It’s likely many of them will be in long-term care. There is much that can be done to improve the quality of life for these individuals … Read more

Clone this woman. Steal this idea.

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: Clone this woman. Steal this idea. A few months ago, I was consulting at the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jamaica, NY, when a remarkable woman named Trudy Schwarz walked down the hall. Her noteworthy qualities were obvious in several ways. A diminutive woman, … Read more

Upcoming Quality Initiatives

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: Upcoming Quality Initiatives Last week I was speaking about the needs of younger residents at the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association convention and had the opportunity to hear a presentation by David Gifford, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs of the … Read more

‘Just a picture of her butt’ — an analysis

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News:  ‘Just a picture of her butt’ — an analysis In “A potential lawsuit in every worker’s pockets?”, McKnight’s Editorial Director John O’Connor describes two of many recent incidents of long-term care workers using their cell phones to record residents in embarrassing situations and post the photo … Read more

Dr. El’s subversive guide to culture change

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: Dr. El’s subversive guide to culture change We often think of culture change as a formal process initiated by company leaders that involves setting organizational goals and moving employees in big and small ways toward those goals. But culture change also can be a grassroots effort … Read more

Growing Good

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: Growing Good Woohoo! My first column of 2016. Which was started during a bout of insomnia in the last week of 2015. What did I do when sleep failed me? What electronics-addicted individuals often do in the middle of the night. I grabbed my computer, caught … Read more

7 employee wellness ideas for the holidays (and beyond)

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: 7 employee wellness ideas for the holidays (and beyond) After a staff training on reducing burnout in long-term care last week, a look through the evaluation forms was illuminating. A significant number of attendees — mostly nursing aides, nurses, and environmental workers — wrote that the … Read more

The secret to LTC success? A focus on well-being

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: The secret to LTC success? A focus on well-being Despite the diversity of the events I attended during my brief visit to the LeadingAge convention in Boston last week, a theme clearly emerged. The thread that ran through the varied offerings was well-being. Retaining staff In … Read more

How to find out why your staff is leaving

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Here’s my latest article on McKnight’s Long-Term Care News: How to find out why your staff is leaving During the Q&A section of my McKnight’s Fall Expo webinar “Letting them go with style,” the conversation turned toward why staff members are leaving their long-term care positions. As I pointed out then, workers often give plausible … Read more