The Visiting Nurse Service of New York, a nonprofit home health care agency, has recently been named in a lawsuit under the Federal and State False Claims Act alleging that the agency improperly and falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid. It is hard to believe that such a long standing agency that has served its state resident since 1893 has had this claim filed against them.  Visiting Nurse Service of New York denies the allegations. Remember that there are 2 sides of every lawsuit and, in … [Read more...]

Did you know that most automatic medication dispensing systems track discrepancies?  All discrepancies should be resolved by the end of the shift. They also report when controlled substances are taken and can compare the medications vended versus the medications charted.  Then, someone needs to check whether the waste was properly documented.  Was there an order for the medication?  How often did the nurse remove the medication for a particular patient?  Is the effectiveness of the medication … [Read more...]

A frequent comment I hear from my clients is that they are given an extremely difficult assignment or that they are very short-staffed. One nurse was in a long-term care facility that was so short-staffed; she was assigned her own hall as well as half of another hall.  These nursing situations are flat out dangerous.  Patients cannot get the proper care when there is no enough staff to provide that care. As a nurse, what do you do?  Your first instinct likely would be to not accept the … [Read more...]

In such a demanding career as nursing, I’m sure you’ve wondered how the difficulties you face compare to others in the industry. John S. Kiernan’s recent article 2016’s Best and Worst States for Nurses on Wallethub.com just might have the answer. The study ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 14 indicators categorized as Competition and Opportunity or Work Environment to determine the states most favorable for nurses. Indicators ranged from standard concerns such as salary … [Read more...]