Rumor? Re: RN's in LTC & Medicare

[jaxnRN]

i attended a hospice conference last fall. the speaker, a very high ranking nurse in her field, was talking about ltc.

she mentioned that in iowa, medicare is going to require an rn to be on the premises 24 hours per day. she told everyone that "yes, it is coming soon. within a year."

i have not heard anymore about this. i can't find info online.

while working home health our lpn was taken off of her duties as case manager as she could no longer supervise/evaluate cna's, which was a weekly duty. she could still do home visits. this change came from our state (iowa) nursing newsletter. our home health was county based. she was "demoted" in a sense from something she had been doing for over a year or more.

so, has anyone heard about ltc requiring an rn to be on grounds 24/7?

wish i could find my papers from that conference and be able to contact the speaker. she was great.

thanks, once again, for your answers!

[hippylady7211]

You know, an LPN can and usually is in a LTC facility as knowledgable about patient care as an RN. I am an RN and I think medicare should be more worried reducing staff to patient ratio's instead of RN's on duty 24 hour a day. In my state the LPN's can do most anything an RN can anyway

[jaxnRN]

You know, an LPN can and usually is in a LTC facility as knowledgable about patient care as an RN. I am an RN and I think medicare should be more worried reducing staff to patient ratio's instead of RN's on duty 24 hour a day. In my state the LPN's can do most anything an RN can anyway

I agree with that comment. Most definitely. I was just wondering about the actual written LAW. There are many LPN's much more knowledgable than some RN's. That works both ways and we all have our strong points. That's why it's so important to work together as "nurses" and not seperate the title when it comes to working for the better good.