SUMMARY

For my Long-Term Care rotation, I spent 4 weeks at The Palace Group, a skilled nursing facility assessing residents in rehabilitation post hospital stay. I was able to provide recommendations and perform customer service quality improvement with the Food and Nutrition Services. I took part in multiple family meetings and created nutritional care plans for residents with the interdisciplinary team. I was able to better understand the coding and billing for dietitian services in the skilled nursing setting, including new regulations coming into effect in October.

Review of Enteral Feeding Practices in an Extended Care Facility
I conducted a literature review on enteral feeding related to extended care. In this article I discuss the efficacy, indications for and ethical principles for initiating enteral nutrition in the extended care facility.
Enteral Nutrition Article

Coding and Billing Related to Reimbursement
I prepared a report detailing both the current and upcoming coding and billing standards in skilled nursing facilities. The new system called Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) will be coming into effect October 1, 2019 and understanding how these changes can affect the food and nutrition services is crucial for the financial health of the facility.
Patient Driven Payment Method

Special Menu
I developed a one-week special menu for a resident requiring a no added salt (NAS), no concentrated sweets (NCS) mechanical soft diet. This menu took into consideration the Cuban culture of the resident, health needs, and taste preferences.
Mechanical Soft NAS NCS menu
Special Menu