If you have recently accepted a new facility, one of the first things you need to do is review their discharge policy and the discharge letter/notification they are using - if they are using one at all. Many facilities do not have a standard template for an involuntary discharge letter.  When they do send a letter, it is usually generated by the Business Office Manager or Social Services Director who usually hasn’t had access to and...

One of the most difficult things I had to learn early on in my career is to control my emotions.  Emotional control, emotional maturity, whatever you want to call it, is one of the single most important things that will determine your success or failure.  I firmly believe that it was the realization of this fact early on that helped propel me toward success. How many times has one of your staff members brought you some information on...

Whenever someone used to ask me how I would describe my leadership style, I never had just one answer.  You see, it changes.  I am a leader for a large group of healthcare professionals.  I am also a coach for most of the time.  But I also am a mentor, a shoulder to cry on, even a drill sargent at times. I’m a peacemaker, a businessman, a dollars & cents watcher, and a check and balance for clinical outcomes.  I’m...

Something interesting I’m finding in many facilities, and let me tell you, I’m a little upset over it.  Apparently, there are nursing home administrators out there that are telling their facilities that no resident can have mental health services while they’re on Medicare Part A.  What?  This is a terrible management decision.  If your administrator or your company is doing this, tell them I’m taking their keys...

It never fails, someone needs to pick up their paycheck before the scheduled paycheck disbursement time.  We’ll say 2:oo pm on Friday.  You know that there is a reason you were told not to let the paychecks go early.  You know that if you let one employee do it, then every other employee will also have an emergency where they need to get theirs as well.  But this one employee is a really hard-worker.  And, she’s going out...

Are your residents complaining that there is nothing to do?  Is your employee morale at an all-time low?  Do you feel the need to grab a couple pairs of boxing gloves and let your CNAs and LPNs just go at it?  Do you have family members with nothing better to do than to count how many times your CNA checked the other resident across the hall and then tell that family the result? If not addressed, rest assured, this will not go away. ...

I had a friend call me today with an interesting dilema.  She knows an administrator who is in bedlock.  What this means is the administrator has a building that is dually certified – Medicare & Medicaid – and has so many long term Medicaid and private pay residents that she has no beds to admit a Medicare resident.  That’s great, right?  A full house; every bed is full.  Not so fast.  The Medicaid rate is much,...

Every company is different, but something that happens frequently is that an administrator is hired and put in charge of the building without much training on how and what to monitor.  Sometimes, one needs a little direction. Today, we’ll talk about how to monitor your accounts receivables and the basic things you need to know to stay off the AR “Focus” conference calls.  (You get on a focus call with corporate when...

There is a trend I’m noticing in surveys recently when the surveyors are conducting staff interviews.  It seems some survey teams are having facility staff members write and sign statements outlining what they’ve done wrong as discovered in the surveyor’s interview of them.  The statements are then used as evidence to support the tag you are about to be cited for a deficient practice.  Why are administrators allowing...