In This Issue
Health Care Reform Planning Comes to North Carolina
What will health care reform mean for me and my company? That’s the ten thousand-dollar question everyone is asking. And it’s probably no surprise that an entire cottage industry of “experts” has arisen quickly, all claiming they have the answer.
Other Health Care Reform Notes on Long Term Care
A few other notes on health care reform that affect long term care.
CON Section, May I?
Thinking of converting semiprivate to private rooms, or renovating an existing facility to make it more home-like and family-friendly? Considering relocating existing skilled nursing beds to an adjacent county? Planning to convert existing CCRC beds for nursing care or relocate CCNC nursing beds to a sister community in a neighboring county?
Ken’s Quote of the Month
“Take it easy – but take it.” Woody Guthrie
From the Marketing Department
Ken Burgess was recently named to the 2011 Best Lawyers in America list for Health Care. This is the third year in a row Ken has been named to this prestigious national listing of lawyers. The Best Lawyers designation is based upon on an exhaustive annual peer-review survey. The new edition is based on a national survey involving more than 3.1 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers. Other members of the PS health law team included in the 2011 Best Lawyers edition included
- Christopher P. Brewer
- Steve Shaber
- William R. Shenton
- Thomas R. West
Ken also recently agreed to serve on the live auction committee for the American Heart Association’s 2011 Heart Ball. “You know me: I like to go BIG with these sorts of things,” Ken said. “So, I’ve cooked up a trip to Paris for two with lodging in my friend’s private apartment in the Fifth District of Paris near all the coolest museums and restaurants. Anyone with a private airplane or a couple of first-class tickets to Paris, please give me a call.”
Finally, Ken is serving as steering committee chairman of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Health Law Council end-of-life care public education campaign. The project involves developing a 20-minute DVD explaining the importance of end of life planning and options under North Carolina law, including the state’s revised advance directives documents and tools. “We’ve trained providers for over three years now on these revised laws and documents, but the public is still largely uninformed about these planning tools,” Ken said. “Our goal is to create a DVD, with pre- and post-viewing training materials, that can be shown at local churches, civic meetings, and by facilities which also identifies other resources for folks wanting individualized help in exploring end-of-life planning documents. Eventually, we hope to hold one or more statewide televised programs explaining these concepts and providing hands-on assistance to callers with advance directives documents.” The project is being funded by a grant from the North Carolina Bar Association Endowment, along with private contributions from a number of N.C. provider organizations. Stay tuned for more on this exciting project!