Another year is slowly but surely marching to a close. As you explore the worthy causes that you care about and support, I would like to add CALTCM to your list. Why? Because we are your voice for post-acute and long-term care services in California. This year has been monumental towards realizing our Vision and Mission.

Thanks to tireless efforts by staff and many of you; particularly James Mittelberger and Debra Bakerjian who were supportive through the entire process. We secured the first large contract/grant to jumpstart the Quality Improvement Training and Implementation of Nursing Home and Health Plan Partnerships: Honoring Wishes and Reducing Hospital Transfers.

Dr. Wasserman is the new Chairperson of the CALTCM Education committee, and he welcomes your input for the development of our education programs.

Dr. Michael Wasserman is Director of Nursing Home Patient Safety for Health Services Advisory Group. He has devoted himself to serving the needs of seniors for the past thirty years.  In 2001 he co-founded Senior Care of Colorado, which became the largest privately owned primary care geriatric practice in the country, before selling it to IPC in 2010.  He previously was President and Chief Medical Officer for GeriMed of America, a Geriatric Medical Management Company located in Denver, Colorado.  While at GeriMed, he helped to develop GeriMed’s Clinical Glidepaths in conjunction with Drs. Flaherty and Morley of St. Louis University’s School of Medicine Geriatric Division.

by Flora Bessey, Pharm.D., CGP

There’s been a big push as at least 2 genetic testing companies have entered into the long term care arena. They are actively visiting facilities so you may have already been approached regarding your opinion on genetic testing.  Here is some information that may help you decide the appropriateness for your facility and residents. 

At first glance it may seem appropriate to have everyone at your facility tested to gauge possible effectiveness of their current medications.  After all, it may help you understand why certain medications are not working or the effects are wearing off sooner than expected.

by Karl Steinberg MD, CMD, HMDC 

CMS published a sweeping set of revisions to the nursing home regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations under 42 CFR §483 (sometimes referred to as Conditions of Participation or Requirements of Participation) in summer 2015.  This is the first revision of these regulations since OBRA was initially implemented in 1990. Because of the sheer amount of material covered, CMS responded to requests to extend the deadline, and the final comments were due October 14, 2015.