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Nursing Home Reform Act
Nursing homes that receive federal funds must comply with the Nursing Home Reform Act. A basic tenet of the Act is that a nursing home must provide services and care to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident and that this care must be given based on written documentation for each resident, known as an individualized plan of care. To learn more, go to: http://www.nursinghomeabuseresourcecenter.com/reform/index.html.

Effects of Understaffing Nursing Homes
Federal and state laws require nursing homes receiving federal funds to develop a plan of care and employ a sufficient staff to provide all of the care within the plan. Due to understaffing, many nursing homes, however, cannot provide all of the care listed on the plan. As a result, residents may not be fed properly, they may not be given sufficient fluids, they may be over- or under-medicated, they may be permitted to develop pressure sores, they may not be taken to the toilet and therefore may be left in bed all day to lay in their own feces and urine, and they may not be cleaned or groomed. To learn more, go to: http://www.nursinghomeabuseresourcecenter.com/understaffing/index.html.

Happy Holidays
Another year is quickly coming to an end. You have completed all of the yearly Medicaid surveys and hopefully had a successful state survey. Congratulations on all of your achievements for this year. Instead of providing tips for how to be a successful admissions director/coordinator, I have opted to provide you with some tips on how to be a better you in 2008.

• Make up your mind to always have a positive attitude regardless of the situation. This will allow you to weather the storm with a lot more dignity and self-respect.
• Be the best you that you can be. Don't compare yourself, your talents or possessions to others. You have a special purpose that only you can fulfill. Look deep and take a leap. "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Don't be afraid of hard work. Even the best ideas have to be implemented by someone and that often does not happen overnight. "Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love work, but most of all endurance" James Arthur Baldwin

What was the average cost of a nursing home stay in 1996? The first ten correct responses e-mailed to support@patientplacement.com will receive a free gift. Be sure to include your mailing address in the e-mail. Congratulation to Elizabeth Barfield, Patsy Seal, Michelle Cantrell, Regina Jarvi and Denna Howard they won a free gift for answering the previous trivia question. The answer: 107 is the average number of beds per nursing home.