Have you ever received a referral from the hospital and on the face sheet under Payor source, it said, “Self Pay”?  This means they have no Medicaid or Medicare and are privately responsible for their bill.  Many times this also means they are “No Pay” becuase they have no money. Obviously, costly residents who can’t pay are a huge problem for the hospital and they need to discharge them as quickly as...

Quick & Easy LTC Marketing Research & Analysis: How to Complete a Market Study Today, we’re going to go over a quick and easy way to do market research for you to determine the viability of a new niche program for your facility.  Now, you can pick any niche – bariatrics, trachs, etc.  You just have to locate the statistical resources for your research.  I have selected an Alzheimers/Dementia unit for the purpose of...

A common problem I have heard is that the Marketing Director in the nursing home doesn’t  exactly know what the volume of sales calls he/she should be producing.  The answer is simple:  Whatever number fills your beds with new admissions.  Ok, that was not really an answer, was it?  What you should be focused on are the calls that generate viable referrals for your building.  It is easy, however, to make less calls than what is...

One of the mistakes that many of us make when our facility is census-challenged is to begin taking and admitting whatever referrals we can get.  This can create tons of problems in your facility.  Obviously, a good rule of thumb is to ensure that clinically you can take of the patient, that financially they have a payor source, and you’re not going to lose money on them.  However, there are other factors to consider.  Namely, is...

So you want to become a great nursing home administrator.  But you find yourself not quite attaining the level of success you aspire to.  Have you asked yourself one simple question:  What am I doing wrong? You want to accomplish great things in this long term care industry we call home.  Here are 10 points to consider.  If you’re doing any of  these, it could very well be the roadblock on your highway to success. 1.  Not...