Overcoming pressure from the industry to delay,   CMS released new Five Star ratings, to convey the overall quality of nearly 4,000 hospitals in the U.S and are posted to the CMS' Hospital Compare site, but it does not include Maryland hospitals yet.

In grading hospitals on their overall quality, the CMS used 64 measures, such hospital-acquired infection rates or emergency room wait times, that had already been posted to the Hospital Compare site.

As it did last year, this field will definitely sell out, so register your organization now if you want a shot at the prestigeous Silver Spoon. September 15th, 5:30-7:30pm at Ten Oaks Ballroom in Clarksville.

What's not to love? Food, drink, friends, and bragging rights. It's all good! Contact Lisa Fichman if you have questions.

If there was any doubt about CMS' commitment to Medicare payment reform, they're clearly on the gas pedal, announcing another series of bundled payment programs to include cardiac care and hip fractures.  

Although Maryland is exempted, their development makes it more likely that State planners will allow these types of programs here in the coming years.

It could drive other structural changes in the industry too, particularly in conjunction with the growing numbers of people who need post-acute care.

In 2008, the Agency for Health Research and Quality found a 53% increase between 1997 and 2006 in the rate of patients discharged from hospitals who needed home healthcare. Over the same period, the rate of patients who went from hospital to nursing homes or rehabilitation facilities rose 30%, the agency found.

The accelerating transition to value-based payment models could "challenge revenue streams for post-acute providers in the near team" and "drive further vertical consolidation within the post-acute sector," according to an equity research note from J.P. Morgan.

This is the 1st in a series of programs designed to assist LTC facilities in the challenges associated with an effective infection control program. The series will include strategies for early identification of conditions that lead to sepsis and how to combat deadly healthcare associated infections. Dial: 1-844-396-8222. Webex Meeting #: 997-856-422.

LifeSpan applauds the Family & Nursing Care Foundation, a fund of the Community Foundation for Montgomery County, for their generos $10,000 grant to Jewish Social Service Agency (JSSA) on August 1, to provide in-home care private duty services to at-risk, aging Holocaust survivors in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland and in Washington, DC.

Way to go! 

Time for all good assisted living warriors and advocates to storm Capitol Hill!

Our national association partner, Argentum is hosting a 2 day meeting to flex with our Congressional delegation. Let's do this!  

Thank you sponsors!