This week's episode of HealthCap Weekly Wrap takes a deeper look at one of the most pressing challenges facing senior living communities this season — the flu. With widespread activity, rising hospitalizations, and a particularly aggressive strain impacting older adults, hosts break down why this year is different and what care teams need to know now. From early symptom recognition to timely antiviral use, the conversation covers actionable steps teams can take to reduce the impact of flu within their communities.

The episode also highlights the importance of respiratory protection programs, using the CDC's Respiratory Protection Program Toolkit as a foundation for keeping staff safe and operations compliant. Additional discussion includes enhanced barrier precautions, communication strategies with families, and staff morale during a high-pressure season. Whether your community has already seen cases or is bracing for what's ahead, this episode offers practical insights, reminders, and tools to strengthen your flu response and protect your residents and care teams.

In this week's episode of HealthCap Weekly Wrap, we kick off the new year with important updates shaping senior care. We cover CMS's push for ownership transparency and what it could mean for audits and enforcement. You'll also hear highlights from the 2025 "Dear Doctor" letter, new research on potentially avoidable hospitalizations among the most medically complex residents, and a call for public reporting of agency nurse staffing. Plus, we break down clarified CMS qualifications for speech-language pathologists and take a look at the first major update to chronic kidney disease guidelines since 2012. Whether you're on the clinical or administrative side of care, these insights can help guide your planning for the year ahead.

As we wrap up 2025, this episode takes a look back at the resources that resonated most with senior living professionals over the past year. Rather than focusing on download counts alone, we explore the themes and challenges that shaped the year—hydration, wound care, infection control, emergency preparedness, elopement prevention, restorative care, and regulation. From practical toolkits to thought-provoking webinars, each resource highlighted a shared goal: to better understand risk, strengthen daily care practices, and protect residents in meaningful ways.

We'll discuss standout materials like the Hydration Toolkit, the six-part Wound Care Webinar Series, the Legionella resources, and the ever-popular Emergency Preparedness Manual. You'll also hear about emerging priorities like transportation planning during emergencies, risk in assisted living communities, and shifting from blame to learning with root cause analysis. Whether you're revisiting familiar tools or discovering new ones, these resources continue to support the people doing the work. All of them are still available at riskmanagement.healthcapusa.com.

This week's episode of HealthCap Weekly Wrap takes a deep dive into six stories shaping care delivery in post-acute settings. We explore a new study on enhanced barrier precautions in ventilator units, a federal initiative to crack down on healthcare fraud, and the ethical challenges around admitting aging individuals on sex offender registries. We also review updated CDC guidance for the 2025–2026 flu season and examine a prescribing cascade that could be putting residents at unnecessary risk.

We close with a powerful reminder that how care ends matters just as much as how it begins. A new opinion piece spotlights the overlooked importance of "the goodbye" in shaping resident satisfaction, trust, and even payment outcomes. From clinical communication to warm send-offs, it's a timely reflection for everyone working in post-acute care.

In this episode of HealthCap Weekly Wrap, we cover key topics impacting senior living communities, including infection prevention, food safety, and resident wellness. We highlight two APIC guides focused on reducing bloodstream and urinary tract infections through team-based strategies and standardized care. We also discuss an article from McKnight's on F812 food safety compliance and how small changes can help avoid costly citations. New diabetes guidelines put lifestyle changes front and center, offering actionable ideas for community-based wellness programs. Plus, we review the National Council on Aging's fall prevention plan and how the Healthy People 2030 initiative can guide long-term care strategy. For full details and links, visit Angie's blog at healthcapusa.com/angies-blog.

In this week's episode of the HealthCap Weekly Wrap, we're diving into five timely stories that impact senior living professionals across clinical, operational, and wellness domains.

We start with a major new study from NIC and NORC that confirms what many in senior care already believe: residents in senior living communities experience better outcomes, including fewer hospital visits, improved preventive care, and enhanced mental health. From there, we dig into AMDA's updated Choosing Wisely guide, which challenges 20 routine clinical practices in post-acute and long-term care that may no longer serve our residents' best interests.

We also revisit a foundational compliance topic—Medicare signature requirements. A CMS resource offers straightforward reminders on proper documentation that can help communities avoid costly claim denials. Next, we discuss two new observational studies examining associations between multiple COVID-19 vaccine doses and certain health patterns. While the findings are nuanced, experts agree the benefits of vaccination remain clear.

Finally, we spotlight a practical infection control tool from the CDC: a measles assessment checklist designed to help long-term care communities evaluate readiness and strengthen outbreak response planning.

Whether you're leading a team, supporting care plans, or overseeing compliance, this episode brings thoughtful, actionable content to support the work you do every day.

You can find links to all the articles we discussed in the Weekly Round Up on Angie's blog at https://www.healthcapusa.com/angies-blog.

This week on HealthCap Weekly Wrap, we tackle what happens when senior living professionals skip the small but critical steps in care. From a powerful STAT News story about providers omitting the suicide question on the PHQ-9 depression screen, to the latest 2024 ACC/AHA blood pressure guidelines and how they tie into dementia prevention, this episode explores the intersection of liability, best practices, and resident well-being.

We revisit Mather Institute's 2021 Stumbling Blocks report on the real barriers older adults face with physical activity, and highlight their more recent mindful eating flyer—just in time for Thanksgiving. Plus, we explore trends from Mather's NEXT Volume III report and legal risk insights from LW Consulting's latest white paper. We wrap with the 2024 Innovative Research on Aging Awards, which showcase practical, resident-centered solutions that are already making a difference.

For full links to everything we discussed, head to Angie's blog at healthcapusa.com/angies-blog.

In this week's episode of HealthCap Weekly Wrap, we cover five important stories for senior living professionals. We start with new voluntary compliance guidance from the Office of Inspector General, as reported by McKnight's Long-Term Care News. Though labeled voluntary, it's already shaping how audits and investigations are conducted, making it essential for leadership and compliance teams to review.nursing communities

Next, we discuss a study featured in McKnight's that links higher frontline staff wages to better CMS Five-Star Quality Ratings. Even small pay increases, like $1 per hour, were tied to meaningful improvements in care quality and staffing stability.

We also highlight a study from Cureus that identifies daily energy and protein intake levels needed to prevent weight loss in older residents. These findings give care teams specific nutrition targets to help protect resident health.

From PharMerica, we look at the clinical use of oral phosphate binders in residents with chronic kidney disease. The guide offers strategies for choosing the right binder and improving adherence. We wrap up with an overview of biologics and biosimilars, including how substitution works and the role of the FDA's Purple Book in guiding pharmacy decisions.

For more details, visit the Weekly Round Up on Angie's blog at healthcapusa.com/angies-blog.