Under a proposal to improve patient safety in long-term care hospitals and nursing homes, the facilities would be required to improve care coordination and planning, mandate infection control training, assign an infection control officer and consider resident health during staffing decisions. The Department of Health and Human Services proposal would also require training for all staff on what constitutes patient abuse. Facilities would have to meet these conditions to participate in Medicare or Medicaid. "When a family makes the decision for a loved one to be placed in a nursing home or long-term care facility, they need to know that their loved one's health and safety are priorities," HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said. Read the full article at FierceHealthFinance