Angie's Blog

HealthCap® USA

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

Director of Risk Management

Angie SzumlinskiMs. 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.

COVID Symptom Study – Six Distinct “Types”?

Angie Szumlinski Announcements, News, Studies

Analysis of data reveals that there are six distinct ‘types’ of COVID-19, each distinguished by a particular cluster of symptoms. The types also differed in the severity of the disease and the need for respiratory support. Launched in the UK and extended to the US and Sweden, the COVID Symptom Study app asks participants to log their health and any …

Numbers Don’t Lie

Angie Szumlinski News, Studies

In a recent study published in JAMA, estimates of the proportion of persons with detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies ranged from 1.0% in the San Francisco Bay area (collected April 23-27) to 6.9% of persons in New York City (collected March 23-April1). For most sites, it is likely that greater than 10 times more SARS-CoV-2 infections occurred than the number of reported …

CMS – Telehealth Update – August 4, 2020

Angie Szumlinski Announcements, News

CMS is proposing changes to expand telehealth permanently, consistent with the Executive Order on Improving Rural and Telehealth Access that President Trump signed. The Executive Order and proposed rule advance our efforts to improve access and convenience of care for Medicare beneficiaries, particularly those living in rural areas. Additionally, the proposed rule implements a multi-year effort to reduce clinician burden …

Combatting Multi-Drug Resistance in Nursing Homes – Per the CDC

Angie Szumlinski Health, Studies

“Multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) do not discriminate, they spread in all health care settings. From our unique vantage point at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we are witnessing the emergence of novel MDROs across the country, which are causing life-threatening infections with limited to no available treatments. Public health efforts to detect and contain these pathogens have …

Frailty (Again, Sorry)!

Angie Szumlinski Studies

Although we have posted many blog articles on the issue of Frailty, this study caught my eye because frailty is becoming more and more a concern for our residents! How many of your residents in the past year required emergency general surgery? What exactly is emergency general surgery? According to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics …

Senior Woman

Depression – Tough to Treat

Angie Szumlinski Studies

Depression challenges many of our residents and sometimes it just doesn’t seem to matter how many times we adjust medications, add medications and discontinue medications; we still struggle to find that happy place for them. However, there is some good news coming from Stanford Medicine where researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) and an algorithm to identify a brain-wave signature in individuals …

COVID-19 Laboratory Reporting Requirements

Angie Szumlinski Announcements, News

Center for Disease Control and Prevention August 10, 2020 Healthcare Providers Urged to Collect Demographic Information When Ordering COVID-19 Laboratory Tests The public health response to COVID-19 depends on comprehensive laboratory testing data. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the HHS Laboratory Data Reporting Guidance released on June 4, 2020 require every COVID-19 testing site to …

Let the Sun Shine!

Angie Szumlinski Studies

I honestly know very few people today who are not taking a Vitamin D supplement and I began to wonder if it is really necessary when I came across this article published in the Integrative Practitioner. The article discusses the prevalence of lower back pain in post-menopausal women (hmmm, we have a few of those living in our centers right?) …

Mild Isn’t Always Better!

Angie Szumlinski Announcements, News

In a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers identified that antibody levels in patients with mild COVID-19, the level of disease most people have, appear to drop by half within 36 days. Dr. Otto Yang, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCLA said that the rapidity in the antibody drop at …