nursing home

New York's largest labor union is taking on the state commission responsible for downsizing the state's hospital and nursing home industries. The Civil Service Employees Union (CSEU), which boasts 265,000 members, has filed a suit challenging the authority of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century. The state law creating the Commission stated that its recommendations--which include closing or restructuring of 57 hospitals and 21 nursing homes--would have the force of …

Eager to capture better-paying short-term patients, nursing homes have begun aggressively renovating and adding features to make themselves a palatable alternative to hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. They're adding bright colors, Internet cafés, beauty parlors and massage therapists, libraries and more to compete against more traditional short-term rehab players. Most of these patients come in to recuperate and get rehab therapy after knee- and hip-joint procedures, though …

A joint venture of private equity firms will pay $1.25 billion to acquire nursing-home operator Genesis HealthCare. Publicly traded Genesis said Tuesday that its management accepted the offer of $63 cash per share and assumption of $450 in debt made by a joint venture led by Formation Capital and JER Partners. The venture is the same one that bought Tandem Health Care last summer. The deal would leave Manor Care as the last publicly traded owner-operator of nursing homes in the United …

A New York state commission tasked with downsizing the state's healthcare industry has released its final recommendations--and the recommendations are tougher than the first round of predictions had anticipated. While original rumors had suggested that the commissioners would recommend the closure of nine hospitals, the group is actually calling for steps that would effectively eliminate 20-odd hospitals, taking thousands of jobs with them. Other hospitals will be asked to eliminate or …

According to several sources in the know, a New York state commission will recommend closing nine hospitals across the state and force several others to merge or cut beds. In addition to the nine that would be closed outright, others would be forced to become clinics or outpatient centers, effectively being closed as acute care centers. Ultimately, the panel's recommendations would call for cutting about 4,100 of the state's hospital beds, though they would also allow the addition of some …

This week, a commission created under New York law should release a plan for shrinking the state's hospital and nursing home industries. The plan will itself become law unless the governor or legislature reject it next month. The commission's plan has developed after a year of meetings and public hearings. Observers expect the commission to require the closing of underused, financially struggling hospitals, but otherwise don't know what it will do. The state's industry is waiting with …

New Jersey is playing host to a growing number of long-term acute care beds, a service designed to fill the gap between standard acute care and nursing facilities. The state now has nine such hospitals, and more are planned. Nationally, there are more than 400 such hospitals currently open. These facilities, which offer no services other than extended care, target patients with serious conditions who will be hospitalized for three weeks or more. Many long-term acute care patients are on …

A new study suggests that while nursing home staffers know about virtually all medication errors that occur at their facility, only 5 percent of errors ever get reported to facility managers. To conduct the study, which was recently published in Nursing Forum, a University of Missouri-Columbia nursing researcher reviewed communication patterns, leadership styles and relationships between staff members at five nursing homes. The researcher found that nursing team members were …

> Medicaid spending saw the smallest increase in a decade during fiscal 2006, according to new research. This could mean fewer limits on coverage and fewer restrictions on eligibility. Article

> The parent company of nursing home operator Skilled Healthcare Group has set plans for a $175 million IPO. …

In New Orleans, the two owners of St. Bernard Parish nursing home have been indicted for the drowning deaths of 35 nursing home residents. The owners are accused of ignoring an evacuation order that could have saved residents' lives. "Katrina's massive storm surge flooded the one-story nursing home to the ceiling within 20 minutes, overwhelming the elderly residents, many of whom were confined to beds or wheelchairs."  Rescue workers saved 29 elderly patients but could not reach all …