Author: sherlockj
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Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need Program – A New Sheriff in Town
by James C. Sherlock Everywhere counterproductive to competition, innovation and cost, Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) program also has proven antithetical to quality and safety in nursing homes. A thorough 2022 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on improving nursing home quality had this to say about state Certificate of…
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New Virginia Nursing Home Law Appears to Violate Federal Statute
by James C. Sherlock In addition to the General Assembly embarrassing themselves in the way they passed a law on nursing homes in this year’s session, they did it in an unseemly rush. There was no pre-filing, a near-immediate and disgraceful floor “debate” led by the nursing industry’s lobbyist, and a rushed vote in the…
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The Ongoing Tragedy of Virginia’s Nursing Homes
by James C. Sherlock Virginia’s Health Commissioners have a job that is broad and deep in its responsibilities and authorities.By statute, appointees must be physicians. Each is the chief executive of the Virginia Department of Health (VDH): a central office in Richmond and 35 local health districts. By Virginia statutes and regulations, they are also…
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The Virginia Board of Health and Nursing Homes – A Strange Appointment
by James C. Sherlock I am starting to lose my sense of humor about the whole Virginia nursing home thing. The Virginia Board of Health (VBOH) writes state regulations for every health facility and health services provider in Virginia, including nursing homes. There is a statutory seat on the VBOH for a nursing home representative.…
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Nurse Staffing in Virginia Nursing Homes in July Ranked 49th in the Nation
by James C. Sherlock The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its national nursing home quality data for July. It provides summaries of nursing home performance for each state, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories. I sorted it for Reported Total Nurse Staffing Per Resident Per Day. I did that…
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Example Number 3,632 in the Decline of Local Newspapers in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock The newspaper business in Virginia continues its rapid descent into well-earned oblivion. It is fair to disdain Donald Trump and hope that he is not our next president. Indeed, I have gone on record on BR with my views supporting that conclusion. This is an opinion blog. But there is, or…
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Virginia Redefines Student Progress in Grades 3-8 for Distributing Federal School Improvement Funds
by James C. Sherlock The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) on June 16th notified the federal Department of Education (USDOE) of its updated State Plan. Such updates are required annually to allow the states to receive federal school improvement funds appropriated for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as updated by the Every Student Succeeds…
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SCHEV on the Community College Guaranteed Admission and Credits Programs
by James C. Sherlock I received a note from Peter Blake, director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), in reference to my column on that program in early July. He thanked, as do I, readers for their interest and supportive comments. We agree with you that (Community College Guaranteed Admissions and…
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Richmond’s 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Needs Better Judgment
by James C. Sherlock Federal judges are supposed to call balls and strikes in relation to the Constitution and the law. President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act into law on June 3. Sec 324 of that law, Expediting Completion Of The Mountain Valley Pipeline, blocked any court from hearing cases about permits for the…
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New CMS Hospital Quality Rankings – Virginia Facilities Ranked Exceptionally High
by James C. Sherlock The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday released its latest annual hospital quality rankings . Only 10.4% of the rated hospitals in the country were awarded the top ranking of five stars. Of Virginia’s 74 rated hospitals, 13 received that top ranking. Almost 18%. Nationally, 28% received one…
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Youngkin Bans State Endorsements of Websites Targeted at Kids’ Sexuality That Do Not Require Parental Consent — WAPO Oobjects
by James C. Sherlock The Washington Post editorial board, like its news pages, has stubbornly and selectively ignored a lot of big news: the ongoing emergence of testimony under oath of whistleblowers recounting the IRS and Justice Department’s handling of all things Biden; evidence like strings of single-purpose bank accounts used by and for current…
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Nursing Homes – What Could Go Wrong?
by James C. Sherlock I have written a lot recently about staffing shortages in Virginia nursing homes and the Commonwealth’s national ranking near the bottom of the states for staffing measures. It is appropriate to ask why that matters. Federal analyses of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data offer the answer. In proposing…
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Staffing Has Collapsed in Many Virginia Nursing Homes, Creating a Health Crisis for Our Most Vulnerable Citizens
by James C. Sherlock I am seldom surprised by Virginia’s nursing home staffing problems, but new government data show no progress on staffing since October of last year. Data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show that the number of significantly understaffed facilities has not budged in seven months. The numbers don’t lie.…
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Understaffed Nursing Homes and the False Claims Act
by James C. Sherlock Nursing home operators, paid by government insurance programs on a per diem basis for caring for their patients, make higher profits if they understaff than otherwise. The less staff they have, the higher their operating margins. The federal government, with much experience in such situations, tries to offset those incentives with…
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An Utter (and Videotaped) Disgrace of the Virginia General Assembly
by James C. Sherlock Whatever the Virginia Health Care Association (VHCA), the state’s nursing home lobbying organization, pays its General Counsel, Scott Johnson, it is not enough. He has been representing them for 20 years, and he owns the General Assembly. This is going to sound boring as I frame the background that is the…