News | March 04, 2022 Wrongful Death Nursing Home Case Remanded to State Court Stay current with healthcare and senior care provider regulatory trends, news and solutions delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter. Keep me informed Get Solutions Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. RULINGS Trends in wrongful death cases against nursing homes On February 22, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a COVID-19 wrongful death case against a nursing home belongs in state court. In October 2021, the Third Circuit court also ruled ruled a COVID-19 related wrongful death lawsuit against a nursing home belonged in state court. Read the opinion CMS Increase in falls, pressure injuries demands renewed safety focus Facility data reported to CMS during the second quarter of 2020 found skilled nursing facilities saw their rates of falls causing major injury increase by 17.5% and pressure ulcers rates increase by 41.8%. The authors concluded, “The healthcare sector owes it to both patients and its own workforce to respond now to the pandemic-induced falloff in safety by redesigning current processes and developing new approaches that will permit the delivery of safe and equitable care across the healthcare continuum during both normal and extraordinary times.” Read the whole story >>The Excelas, LLC Comprehensive Integrated Timeline Tool (CITT, pronounced “kit”) helps you present your actions to prevent these type of incidents in an organized, integrated chronology. Explore the CITTs for fall prevention and infection control BEST PRACTICES Best Practices in Containing Litigation Costs -The average case backlog for state and local courts increased over 30% during the pandemic. -There are estimates that damages could increase 20-30% based on these delays. -To “catch up” on the docket, case preparation may be rushed and hectic. As noted in a recent presentation by leading long term care attorneys, this court backlog plus shrinking budgets, increased regulatory and compliance requirements, and the anticipated onslaught of COVID-related litigation makes it incumbent on in-house legal departments to find innovative ways to reduce costs and burdens.Excelas, LLC has experience and expertise in managing medical information for claims and litigation to assist counsel in reducing overall litigation costs. Contact us today to discuss your medical information management requirements. Read the whole article Excelas is a national provider of medical record organization, retrieval and analysis, helping skilled nursing organizations reduce risk exposures associated with gaps in record keeping, which could affect audit scores, reduce defense costs, and shorten the claims lifecycle. Post Tags: containing litigation costs rates of falls increase rates of pressure injuries increase wrongful death nursing home