LifeSpan Enews May 4, 2010

LifeSpan Takes it to the Web - Directory, Classifieds, Social Media
The internet is changing everything, even senior care. So LifeSpan is excited to announce that we're putting more energy into offering member programs & services via the internet. For example our annual membership directory is now online and accessible to everyone. The directory now can reach exponentially more people, and will promote our members even more effectively to the world.

In addition, we've simplified LifeSpan's classified ads so that anyone can easily post an ad themselves, and it will instantly be listed on our web site for 30 days. Our classified are read by thousands of people, and we place all job postings on LifeSpan's Linkedin web site, which is followed by major national, regional and local search firms. We also promote upcoming Beacon and LifeSpan events on our Facebook site, to greatly expand our ability to communicate with members and others interested in senior care. Ideas? Suggestions on how we can expand our web presence to help you better? Let us know!

Beacon Golf is May 17th
The 14th Annual Beacon Golf Tourney features a reduced price ($175/person), great central location (Turf Valley Resort), premium spring weather (mid May!), and 9 CEUs of education on Monday and Tuesday! >Read more

LifeSpan's Liability Insurer Gets a Rating!
We are pleased to announce that the LifeSpan's liability insurance company, known as the 'Aegis RRG' has received an “A – Exceptional” rating from Demotech, which is the rating agency which rates Risk Retention Groups. The Aegis RRG, was created in 2004, now insures 12 LifeSpan member organizations, and has total assets of well over $2 million. It offers LifeSpan members primary insurance of $1million per claim and $3 million annual aggregate for professional/general liability claims-made coverage.

This is the insurance equivalent of a 'good housekeeping seal' and says we're here to stay and validates our program's overall success. More importantly, we can insure more LifeSpan members because it will allow us to insure facilities which have financing from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., and the Federal National Mortgage Association.

Member Spotlight: The Methodist Home of DC
Congratulations goes out to The Methodist Home of DC, Washington, DC, one of the Mid-Atlantic Wellspring Alliance members. They received the 2010 Excellence in Action Award from My InnerView, for Customer Satisfaction.

My InnerView's Excellence in Action award recognizes those nursing homes that achieve high levels of excellence as demonstrated by having overall customer or workforce satisfaction levels that fall within the top 10% of My InnerView's customer database in 2009. Using the profession's largest database of satisfaction and quality metrics available, My InnerView provides executives and managers of senior care organizations the tools and information to compare their performance achievements with their peers. The Wellspring Program and The Beacon Institute extend their heartfelt congratulations to these outstanding nursing homes for their tremendous accomplishment!

President nominates Berwick to run agency for Medicare, Medicaid
After much anticipation, President Obama Monday nominated Dr. Donald Berwick for administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Dr. Berwick has dedicated his career to improving outcomes for patients and providing better care at lower cost,” Obama said in a written statement. “That's one of the core missions facing our next CMS administrator, and I'm confident that Don will be an outstanding leader for the agency and the millions of Americans it serves.” If confirmed by the Senate, Berwick, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, would succeed Dr. Mark McClellan, who served in the post from 2004 to 2006. Since McClellan stepped down, there have been interim appointees. Charlene Frizzera currently is interim administrator.