Articles and Blogs

On October 12, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California Senate Bill 172 into law (“Act”). The Act, known as the “Keep Our Seniors Safe Act,” makes changes to California’s Health and Safety Code by adding firearm storage requirements for firearms that are held by California residential care facilities for the elderly, more commonly known... READ MORE

A new Indiana law imposes several written disclosure requirements that health facilities must provide to prospective residents. The new Indiana law also includes requirements to follow when developing and executing a resident care plan. New Written Disclosures to Prospective Residents The new Indiana law requires that health facilities provide written disclosures on the following... READ MORE

Most skilled nursing facilities and state survey agencies are not correctly reporting and investigating abuse and neglect incidents that occur against skilled nursing residents, according to the June 7, 2019, Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report titled Incidents of Potential Abuse and Neglect at Skilled Nursing... READ MORE

Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (“Court of Appeals”) released an opinion that confirmed a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) assessment of an immediate jeopardy citation and an $83,800 civil money penalty against a nursing home for inadequately addressing sexual interactions between cognitively impaired nursing home... READ MORE

Fresh off the 75th Annual Golden Globes Awards, which took place on January 7, mainstream and social media alike are abuzz with Oprah Winfrey’s historic acceptance of the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Winfrey, the first black woman to receive the prestigious award, brought the crowd to its feet on several occasions during her emotional acceptance... READ MORE

In the wake of the salacious Harvey Weinstein allegations, the topic of sexual harassment is making the headlines…again. The Weinstein story followed right on the heels of the various (and seemingly ongoing) harassment-related woes of Fox News, which, in turn, followed on the heels of the developments that came to light on the presidential... READ MORE

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires all skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and nursing facilities (NFs) to have an effective compliance and ethics program in place by March 23, 2013.  Unfortunately, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has failed to publish final regulations covering these programs, as required under PPACA, by... READ MORE

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) just released a Survey & Certification Letter (S&C: 12-04-NH) to address a recent report of a nursing facility resident death due to a smoking accident.  A resident who was deemed appropriate to smoke unsupervised, but failing to wear a smoking apron, died as the result of... READ MORE