Angie's Blog

HealthCap® USA

Angie Szumlinski, NHA, RN-BC, RAC-CT and BS

Director of Risk Management

Angie Szumlinski Ms. Szumlinski is a nationally-recognized leader in long-term care with experience as an Owner/Provider, Administrator, Director of Nursing, Corporate Quality Assurance Coordinator and independent consultant. Ms. Szumlinski conducts risk management visits at facilities across the country, touching every acuity level within the post-acute care spectrum. Ms. Szumlinski served as an Associated Board Member for NCAL, is a member of the AHCA/NCAL Quality Committee, NCAL Risk Management Committee, HCAM Legal/Clinical Committee and is a Senior Examiner/Team Leader for the AHCA/NCAL Quality Award Program. Ms. Szumlinski is a Nurse Planner for the HealthCap^® ANCC accredited education program.

Influenza Pandemic Checklist – ASPR TRACIE

Angie Szumlinski January 16, 2020 Health

ASPR TRACIE is a healthcare preparedness information gateway that provides access to information and resources to assist providers in improving their individual emergency response plans. The most recent addition to the toolkit published online is the “Influenza Pandemic Checklist”. This tool is intended to assist health care providers and their partners in assessing their preparedness for an influenza pandemic. It …

Frailty – Fact or Fiction

Angie Szumlinski January 14, 2020 Health, Studies

Many scholarly articles have been written regarding the incidence of frailty in the geriatric population and the negative outcomes related to frailty. In the post-acute care sector, we have just recently embraced the frailty idea and are working with different organizations, software companies, and assessment tools to assist in determining the level of frailty in our residents. A recent study …

NCAL's message about Argentum's National Standards Initiative

Peter Feeney January 13, 2020 Compliance, Legal, News

HealthCap® worked with AHCA/NCAL last fall to analyze what Argentum’s push for developing ANSI standards would mean for the industry. We found that national standards would be redundant to state licensing oversight and accompanying standards, which would confuse and complicate compliance. Furthermore, two sets of standards would fuel even more litigation, as trial attorneys will be able to hand-pick between …

Podcast: Ep. 8 – Ransomware and Cyber Attacks in Senior Living

Peter Feeney January 10, 2020 Podcast

Listening to the news it seems that cyber-attacks are becoming more and more common. Is the Senior Living Community being targeted? What do hackers want? In today’s podcast, Peter and Angie talk with James Gutierrez, Director of IT at HealthCap. Listen to hear what you should do and how you can mitigate damage if you are attacked.

C-Diff – What’s the Diff?

Angie Szumlinski January 9, 2020 Health

The dreaded C-Diff infection! We all cringe when we hear those words right? We also struggle to know what is considered best practice today as the recommendations periodically change. So think about this, what if that new admission who develops C-Diff 3 months later was actually the cause of the infection? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if we could …

Nurses Sleep Deprivation

Angie Szumlinski January 7, 2020 Health

In a recently published article in Science News, nurses don’t sleep enough, period. Per the article, nurses sleep nearly an hour and a half less before workdays which can impact patient care. It has long been known that shift work can impact sleep cycles and overall quality of life. Nurses tend to work odd shifts, 12-hour shifts, double shifts, etc. …

Delirium and Your Residents

Angie Szumlinski January 6, 2020 Health

In a recent article published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, postoperative delirium in older adults continues to challenge the medical profession. As caregivers, we often miss the signs of delirium in our residents unless there has been a significant event such as surgery. It is important to remember that delirium can occur without a major event …

Flu and You!

Angie Szumlinski January 2, 2020 Health

Scenario: Scheduled risk assessment visit at assisted living center; call from Executive Director “We are dropping like flies, can we reschedule?” Yep, the dreaded flu has hit with a vengeance! Per the CDC more than 1,300 people have already died from conditions worsened by the flu so far this season and there have been at least 2.6 million flu illnesses …

Podcast: Ep. 7 – Recharge Your Employees

Peter Feeney December 27, 2019 Podcast

During this end of the year episode, Peter and Angie talk about things you can do to get your employees recharged for the upcoming year.

Don’t Blame Mom Anymore!

Angie Szumlinski December 20, 2019 Studies

We all have heard the joke “blame mom”, “it was mom’s fault”, but according to a recent study at the University of Michigan, you can blame mom for exposing you to stress as a child! Yep, the research (done on roundworms) found that experiencing stress early in life may make you better able to fight stress you might encounter later …

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Ep. 8 Ransomware and Cyber Attacks in Senior Living
Listening to the news it seems that cyber-attacks are becoming more and more common. Is the Senior Living Community being targeted? What do hackers want? In today's podcast, Peter and Angie talk with James Gutierrez, Director of IT at HealthCap. Listen to hear what you should do and how you can mitigate damage if you […]
Ep. 7 Recharge Your Employees
During this end of the year episode, Peter and Angie talk about things you can do to get your employees recharged for the upcoming year.
Ep. 6 Arbitration Agreements
Arbitration agreements are a hot topic in our industry. Many residents and their families may think of arbitration as waiving their right to a jury trial if there is a claim, but there are many benefits to them. In this podcast Christina Nechiporchik, Staff Attorney at HealthCap talks with Andrea DeLand, HealthCap Risk Manager and […]
Ep. 5 Sepsis
Every hour that a resident is in septic shock and not receiving antibiotics, their risk of death increases by almost 10%. Knowing the signs of sepsis and early diagnosis are key to fighting the infection. Peter Feeney talks with Risk Managers Cathy Angi and Cathy Hamblen about what to look for and what to do […]
Ep. 4 Preparing for Winter
For much of the country, winter is here (or will be soon)! What do facilities need to do to be ready? Is there anything you're not thinking about? Preparation is the key, especially for those southern states where winter doesn't strike often. In this episode, Peter talks with Angie Szumlinski about what to think about, […]