Shopping Spree Winner Announced! Roger Ambrose, Administrator of Newburgh Health Care and Residential Center, was the lucky winner of Theracare’s Holiday Shopping Spree of a $100 Simon’s pre-paid Visa card. Congratulations Roger, enjoy!

Nationwide RUG Category Utilization as Reported by the OIG We are often asked if there is any benchmark data regarding the use of the RUG categories. In fact, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) periodically conducts such studies as requested by the government.

Medicare Prescription Drug Act Provided More Than Just a Moratorium on Therapy Caps The Medicare Prescription Drug Act provided much needed help to providers of rehabilitation services and to the beneficiaries they serve. The most talked about change was a moratorium on the therapy caps through the year 2005, but there were several other important provisions contained within this bill.

Long Term Care Providers Now Subject to Enhanced Publicly Reported Quality Measures Beginning on January 22, 2004, CMS began publicly reporting an enhanced set of nursing home quality measures. These enhanced measures reflect care delivered in Quarter 3 of 2003 to post-acute care nursing home residents between April 1, 2003 and September 30, 2003 and to chronic care residents between July 1, 2003 and September 30, 2003.

Business Etiquette Quick-Tips Do I sit or stand? HOW R MY E-MAIL SKILLS? Serve to the left or right? If you are anything like yours truly, chances are good you have found yourself at times in a professional situation in which you weren’t quite sure if your etiquette was on target or a near miss.

Is your therapy space disguised as a storage closet? If you combine a “Trading Spaces” addict and an organizing junkie, what do you get? ME! My family can tell you endless stories of how they believed they lost something only to find I had reorganized it (maybe without asking). Knowing that, you can imagine how disturbing I find therapy spaces that are disguised as storage closets.

New parents abound within Theracare! We would like to extend our congratulations and best wishes to our staff members who are new parents.