McKnight's Podcast

By McKnightsHealth & Fitness

McKnight's Podcast episodes

October 30 The great skilled nursing debate: Industry leaders take on the questions shaping what comes next
Skilled nursing is changing quickly, but there’s rarely one right answer for what comes next. In this live conversation from the AHCA show floor, industry leaders will take on some of the biggest questions facing skilled nursing today—sharing where they agree, where they don’t, and why.
From the growing influence of AI to changing workforce expectations and the evolving role of technology, the discussion will challenge conventional thinking and explore different perspectives on where the industry is today—and where it could be headed next.
Expect a lively conversation exploring:
-The evolving role of AI and technology in skilled nursing
-Workforce challenges, expectations, and the changing way work gets done
-Innovation, adoption, and the changing business and care models shaping the industry
-What the future could hold for skilled nursing organizations, their teams, and the residents they serve Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
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30 min
October 29 Healthcare strategist embarks on life planning venture
LifePlans is working to provide the expertise people need to navigate the range of major life experiences, from preparing for a wedding or baby to needing hospice care. The company’s advisers offer advice while offering listening ears and compassion for people going through various life moments. Along with life planners, LifePlans offers a digital vault for users to store their plans so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel during each challenge. It also provides connections to 1,200 professionals who provide a range of services. Lanz understands the need for this prodcut personally. She is a member of the sandwich generation, taking care of her children and starting to think about her parents' needs. She also was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Her story mirrors that of many women who make up 77% of LifePlans’ customer base. She is using her life experience and expertise as a nurse and healthcare expert to inform the direction of the company.

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Show Contributors: McKnight’s Home Care Editor Liza Berger; Katy Lanz, Founder and CEO, LifePlans

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21 min
October 27 A transformative aging services workforce program transforms again to target career changers
After more than 20 years in the workforce development business, The New Jewish Home in New York is expanding to a new crowd to meet demand in aging services: career changers up to age 40.
SkillSpring has long been known for its programming focused on high schoolers and other first-time workers, who are encouraged to train as certified nursing assistants and pursue long-term care careers that might have otherwise been unknown to them.
But, says CEO Jeffrey Farber, the program has fed the healthcare sector without necessarily solving his 514-bed nursing home’s immediate need for frontline staff. Nearly 100% of the program’s 1,600 young participants have graduated high school and been so inspired that they went on to college, often to pursue healthcare careers.
"What we found is that that program is so successful as a high school enrichment program ... that it wasn't actually solving today's workforce shortage crisis because we need staff today,” Farber said. “So what we did was we expanded.”
That meant next focusing on young adults 18-24, then immigrants. And now, grant funding from the New York Department of Youth and Community Development focuses on helping those under 40 navigate a successful transition to healthcare careers.
The result is a longer, 24-week program that combines work readiness and occupational training with a longer paid internship.
“The longer time frame gives us an opportunity to build not just the technical skills that are necessary to become a CNA [for] people that are training from very different backgrounds, but also the confidence and the workplace experience that they need to succeed in the job,” Farer says.
And this arm of SkillSpring also continues wraparound services like English language education and childcare after official employment begins.
In this episode, Farber tells McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Editor Kimberly Marselas about efforts to continue scaling SkillSpring and inspire national copycats. It’s just the latest way the innovative New York health system is reaching beyond traditional talent pools to transform the long-term care workforce.
Listen in to learn more about the program’s first cohort and special participants, as well as specific strategies that are successfully placing new team members at the New Jewish Home and other settings across the city.
"All the work to prepare, all the wraparound services, the attention to the potential barriers is critical. And I think what we've more recently uncovered and learned is there's more that we need to do once we're done with the program... because once you're on the job, those issues and those barriers didn't disappear."
Highlighting the unique human element required in skilled care, Farber stressed that modern technology can supplement, but never fully replace, dedicated caregivers. "There’ll be room and there’s roles for technology, which we embrace and study as well, but that won’t replace the sort of human element—the requirement of caregiving, especially for frail vulnerable older adults," Farber emphasized.
With plans to help partner organizations and ultimately scale the Skillspring model nationwide, the health system offers a compelling framework for providers seeking long-term labor stability.
To hear the full episode and learn more about how The New Jewish Home is tackling workforce shortages through innovative training models, listen to the complete interview on the McKnight's Long-Term Care News website.
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18 min
October 22 New PACE bill marks ‘huge step forward,’ Trinity Health PACE exec says
Starting a PACE program is not for the faint of heart, Donna Wilhelm, vice president of advocacy for Trinity Health PACE, said. On top of steep capital expenditures and requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Studies, potential PACE providers can apply to start services only four times a year. People who want PACE services also face barriers such as being able to enroll only on the first day of the month. Trinity Health PACE is backing new bipartisan legislation introduced this fall that would provide anytime enrollment in the program, which allows Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to receive nursing home–level care at home — a strong preference for many. Stripping away some of the burdensome requirements also would make the program more scalable and boost access for more people, Wilhelm said. A report this summer highlighting PACE’s clinical benefits is bolstering the argument to expand the program and make it mandatory for all states. This is timely as the program is often on the chopping block when budgets tighten, even though it ends up saving states money, Wilhelm said. PACE currently is offered voluntarily in 33 states and the District of Columbia for people 55 and older who are nursing-home eligible. Like many areas of healthcare, private-equity backed, for-profit PACE services are emerging, raising concerns about maintaining patient-centered care.

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Show contributors: McKnight’s Home Care Editor Liza Berger; Donna Wilhelm, vice president of advocacy, Trinity Health PACE

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19 min
October 07 ‘Unconscious competence’ and other long-term benefits of the quest for Quality Award recognition
A relentless focus on process improvement and culture change has catapulted Clarkston Health and Rehabilitation Center into elite territory, making it one of only two nursing homes nationwide to earn the American Health Care Association’s prestigious Gold Quality Award this year.
In this episode of the McKnight’s Newsmakers podcast, leaders from the Washington facility and parent company Cascadia Healthcare shared how a five-year transformation turned a struggling building into a regional powerhouse.
"Making the informal formal and then responding to the criteria ... becomes a cycle of evaluation and improvement," said Maryruth Butler, director of quality and integrity for Cascadia. The awards program’s years-long process builds knowledge and confidence that Butler describes as “unconscious competence” among operations and care teams.
When Cascadia acquired Clarkston in 2021, the building faced severe operational headwinds, including low census and a history of high administrative turnover. According to Chief Nursing Officer Jami Johnson, establishing reliable, standardized processes and fostering staff buy-in were pivotal to turning the tide.
That structural shift allowed the sole skilled nursing facility in its county to double its resident census, expand specialized clinical offerings like parenteral nutrition, and navigate state regulatory surveys with zero clinical deficiencies.
Beyond facility gains, guests tell moderator and McKnight’s editor Kimberly Marselas how Cascadia leverages its growing network of quality award recipients to elevate performance across all its properties. New discoveries and strategies from the chain’s silver and gold winners are supporting the quest for quality at newly acquired and turn-around facilities.
“The sharing of best practices really has helped our organization as a whole,” adds Kate Hawkins, regional clinical resource for Cascadia Healthcare in Washington. “Reaching out to sister [facilities] and again just sharing that best practice has really moved a lot of mountains very quickly."
Check out the full episode — and our previous conversation with fellow Gold Winner Todd-Dickey Nursing and Rehabilitation — to learn more about how these leaders are driving clinical excellence, building organizational consistency and sustaining long-term quality momentum.
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25 min
September 24 TheKey’s secret sauce: Don’t try to please everyone, zip codes matter
One of the biggest pain points for TheKey, which serves private-pay clients primarily, is affordability, CEO Chris Gerard told McKnight’s Home Care. Also, the population that can pay for the firm’s services is even smaller given that the company specializes in longer-term, higher-utilization clients. One of the secrets of the firm’s success is matching the caregiver’s capabilities and personality with the client's needs and being available early in the episode of care, he said. This means putting lot of energy and effort into the first seven to 14 days the client is on service. The company recently left the Australian market, which was a franchise business. TheKey is a bit immune from the caregiver shortage in the United States because clients receive more intensive care and for a longer time than those at most agencies. This allows the company to give caregivers more stable clients and more hours. As a result, turnover is less of a problem at TheKey compared to other agencies, Gerard said. One of TheKey’s most successful service lines is geriatric care management, a lesser-known service that provides a “household quarterback” to manage all aspects of a loved one’s care — from trips to the physician’s office to durable medical equipment maintenance.

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Show contributors:
McKnight’s Home Care Editor Liza Berger; Chris Gerard, CEO, TheKey Home Care

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19 min
September 22Amid this state’s Rural Health win for skilled nursing, plenty of funding gaps remain
The conversation highlights three primary themes surrounding initial implementation:
Targeted infrastructure vs. comprehensive care: Initial grants focus heavily on expanding physical capacity, such as ventilator and in-house dialysis service lines at specific facilities, rather than broader operational supports needed to address an increasingly complex patient population.
Workforce access bottlenecks: While state funds target Licensed Nursing Assistant development, broader health workforce tuition initiatives requiring multi-year rural commitments often fail to accommodate the non-traditional schedules and preparation required for existing facility staff to advance. That won’t be solved by the latest federal funding.
New resources in aging settings. Physical equipment grants often overlook the costly building renovations and specialized staffing required to modernize facilities built decades ago.
Addressing the gap between capital equipment grants and comprehensive operational support remains a primary focus for state advocates trying to ensure that rural health spending truly converts to long-term success.
"Even if you can connect a need to a particular line in a grant-making opportunity, there's still a lot more that needs to come together to make that program successful," Labun notes in the episode. "It's not as simple as handing out some equipment to make some of these programs a success."
Listen in to the full episode of McKnight's Newsmakers for more insights on how rural skilled nursing facilities are navigating federal grants, workforce bottlenecks and continuing to advocate for complex care initiatives.

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16 min
September 17 Home health, hospice moratorium is not sustainable for long term, NPHI CEO says
A short-term home health and moratorium was a necessary action because of rampant fraud in the hospice sector, said Tom Koutsoumpas, founder and CEO of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). Still, the moratorium, which is designed to contain and address egregious activities, is meant to be a short-term solution, said Koutsoumpas, who was involved when the benefit was created in the 1980s. There has been an overreaction during the moratorium, he noted, and acknowledged that some of his members have been subject to unnecessary audits. While the question of the moratorium has divided provider organizations, more imperative is that the community as a whole support and encourage the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in their fraud-fighting efforts, he said. The organization’s support of the moratorium and may be one reason why NPHI has experienced a surge of new members of late. On another subject, he is excited about the attention palliative care has been receiving from CMS in rulemaking. NPHI has proposed a palliative care model that would be adjacent to the hospice benefit. More details are forthcoming, he said.

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Show contributors:
McKnight’s Home Care Editor Liza Berger; Tom Koutsoumpas, founder and CEO, National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI)

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18 min
September 01 ‘Multi-year marathon’ leads Indiana nursing home to nation’s top quality honor
Out of thousands of skilled nursing facilities nationwide, only two earned the prestigious Gold - Excellence in Quality Award from the American Health Care Association this year. One of those top honors belongs to Todd-Dickey Nursing and Rehabilitation, a 62-bed facility in southern Indiana that proves size is no barrier to achieving high-level operational excellence.
In this episode, Executive Director Wendy Broughton and Janean Kinzie, vice president of parent company American Senior Communities, detail the behind-the-scenes work to maintain a stringent focus on quality for six years — and how some friendly competition helped deliver excellence.
The discussion highlighted the key drivers behind the facility’s success, starting with a deeply rooted culture of local commitment and retention. As the only nursing facility in its county, Todd-Dickey relies on a tight-knit staff — some with over 40 years of tenure — who view their work as "family taking care of family," Broughton tells McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Editor Kimberly Marselas.
"It’s a multi-year marathon of putting things together and looking at those challenges and taking one thing at a time,” she says. “If you do good quality of care, the awards will come."
Maintaining open lines of communication, setting clear expectations during initial job interviews, and keeping floor staff directly involved in quality metrics were crucial strategies for sustaining momentum on the path from Bronze to Gold.
Rather than viewing quality initiatives as temporary fixes for isolated issues, ASC focuses on analytical evaluation and regional training seminars across its portfolio. That’s given it more than 80 Quality Award winners in recent years. And good ol’ "Hoosier competitiveness" continues to push facilities across the state to elevate their standard of care year after year, she adds
Listen to the full episode to learn more about Todd-Dickey’s journey to Gold, the role of corporate support in quality improvement and how competition can drive higher standards in long-term care. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
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22 min
July 30 House call firm Ennoble Care finds success serving high-needs Medicare patients
As a house call firm, Ennoble Care brings the most skilled clinicians to a patient’s house to provide essentially a doctor's office inside, CEO Kush Das explained. That slowly progresses to more longitudinal care with nurses and social workers and care managers supporting patients. The company serves both Medicare and Medicare Advantage patients, depending on the market. About 1 of every 2 Medicare patients it serves is in the ACO REACH model, Das explained. He is proud of the work of the Complex Care Alliance, which has advocated for high-needs Medicare patients in accountable care. He is bullish on the LEAD model, which will take the place of the REACH Model starting in 2027. The latest physician fee schedule proposed rule reflects the work involved in operating a house call company, he said. The company, which doubled in the last 12 months, will continue on a similar growth trajectory, he said. The federal hospice moratorium — which he believes in — will hurt the company's efforts to grow hospice in the short term, he said.

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Show contributors:
McKnight’s Home Care Editor Liza Berger; Kush Das, CEO, Ennoble Care

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21 min