SORIM LTC Conference Draws Rave Reviews

       The second annual Symposium on Regulatory Issues for Management in Long-Term Care (SORIM LTC), held April 27-28 in Tampa, Florida, drew rave reviews from attendees who appreciated the rare opportunity to be on a level playing field with the state and federal regulators who shape long-term care policy.

Conference chairman Courtney H. Lyder, ND, speaks with attendees during the grand opening reception.

       Conference attendees—covering 27 states and including administrators, directors of nursing, medical directors, and C-level executives—once again learned from and interacted with officials from state and federal healthcare agencies, formally and informally. But this year’s conference offered additional access.
       “Based on customer demand, this year we have surveyors—though they may not want to say who they are,” quipped keynote speaker Karen Schoeneman, a senior policy analyst for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
       Len Weiser, an Associate Executive Director for Erickson Retirement Communities, said his previous experiences with CMS officials were typically adversarial and that SORIM LTC offered a more collegial interaction.
       “The conference provided an avenue for providers and regulators to have an open dialogue about how best to provide services to our seniors,” he said. “I feel like I now have a relationship with CMS that is a good one!”
       Added Jana Stuever, Administrator of MediLodge of Yale: “I would recommend this conference to anyone who would like to have the opportunity to actually interface and discuss current topics regarding long-term care and network with their peers and policy makers.”
       Following the keynote speech and a presentation by conference chairman Courtney H. Lyder, ND, on “the ABCs of CMS,” presented topics included: the implications of revised F-Tags, the role of the state agency in increasing quality in long-term care, the survey process made simple, changing the culture of delivering care in nursing homes, nursing home preparedness, CMS regional updates, and the CMS perspective on reimbursement in long-term care.

Attendees also had the opportunity to learn about the products and services of sponsors and exhibitors, such as Johnson & Johnson.

       Aside from the chance to learn from and network with state and government regulators as well as industry executives, attendees appreciated the take-home value of SORIM LTC.
       “Since returning from the conference, I’ve shared the information with my company peers and Director of Operations,” said Stuever. “It’s information I wouldn’t have known about. Specifically, I’m going to be using the Quality Indicator Survey (QIS) process information to initiate a few new quality assurance (QA) processes in my building.”
       Added Susan Keener, Administrator of Bentley Care Center: “I found the information to be very helpful and the hand-outs valuable—I copied much of them for my staff.”
       The most common sentiment, though, was of the value of bringing providers and regulators to the same table. “The different settings need to talk to each other, now and forever, formally or informally,” said Schoeneman. “We all believe in quality of life for our seniors.”
       For more information leading up to the 2008 SORIM LTC conference, planned for the end of April 2008 in San Diego, California, visit www.SORIMLTC.com.

Hill-Rom and Tempur-Pedic Announce New Line

       Hill-Rom, the healthcare operating company of Hillenbrand Industries, and the Medical Division of Tempur-Pedic North America, Inc., a subsidiary of Tempur-Pedic International, Inc., announce plans to offer a new line of innovative bed surfaces for acute care institutions in North America.
       “We are excited about bringing our two companies together to create an innovative new product line to improve the sleeping comfort for patients,” says Peter H. Soderberg, CEO of Hillenbrand and Hill-Rom. “Both of our companies are known for our commitment to quality and service and have long histories of innovation. Together, we can make a difference in the way patients rest and heal by providing a line of sleep surfaces that focuses on comfort while simultaneously providing better pressure redistribution for hospitalized patients.”
       The two companies plan to debut a jointly branded line of premium, non-powered medical mattresses to the Hill-Rom acute care customer base. Hill-Rom would be named as the exclusive third-party distributor in North America of Tempur-Pedic medical mattresses to this acute care arena. The co-branded Hill-Rom Tempur-Pedic line would feature sleeping surfaces made specifically for Hill-Rom’s market-leading products, such as the VersaCare^®, TotalCare^® and Affinity^® 4 beds, as well as CareAssist^® stretchers and mattress replacement systems. All products would include deep-top layers made of the proprietary TEMPUR^® material.
       “At the Medical Division of Tempur-Pedic, our goal has always been to provide innovative surface technologies for comfort, pressure, and pain management,” says H. Thomas Bryant, President and CEO of Tempur-Pedic.

CMS Proposes Medicare Payment Increase

       Medicare payments to nursing homes would increase by about $690 million in fiscal year 2008 under rates proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
       This 3.3% increase would affect payment rates to the nursing facilities that furnish certain skilled nursing and rehabilitation care to Medicare beneficiaries recovering from serious health problems. Under Medicare’s skilled nursing facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS), facilities receive a daily rate based on the relative needs of each individual Medicare patient, adjusted for local labor costs. The daily rate covers the costs of furnishing all covered nursing facility services.
       Visit www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/snfpps or the Federal Register to view a full copy of the proposed rule. Public comments will be accepted until June 29, 2007.