Press Room

Nursing homes and play a unique dual role in the long-term care continuum, serving as a place where people receive needed health care and a place they call home. Ineffective responses to the complex challenges of nursing home care have resulted in a system that often fails to ensure the well-being and safety of nursing home residents.

William Schaffner, MD, professor of Health Policy and primary investigator for the Tennessee Emerging Infections Program (EIP) began turning over his responsibilities to H. Keipp Talbot, MD, in late 2022.Dr. Schaffner has been with VUMC since the 1960s, effectively making him one of the longest tenured physicians ever at VUMC. He has been the primary investigator for the multi-state EIP for more than 10 years. Under his leadership, the program has grown in scope, staffing and focus, adding disease surveillance activities.

  New research published in July's issue of Health Affairs finds wide variability in nurse staffing at U.S. nursing homes.

  (The following was originally published by the VUMC Communications Office.)

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Dr. Melissa McPheeters, PhD, MPH, will return to the permanent faculty of Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine, beginning July 1.

Hospitals Stand to Lose Billions Under ‘Medicare for All’ Proponents held up signs as Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the Medicare for All bill in Washington this month.CreditAaron P. Bernstein/Reuters

This story is part of NewsChannel 5’s community initiative known as “Medical Debt Rescue." The goal of the project is to shed light on a lopsided medical debt system that has left thousands of Tennesseans with crippling debt and forced many into foreclosure, while also wiping $1.8 million dollars of medical debt in Middle Tennessee. Learn more about the initiative here. NASHVILLE, Tenn.

The phone rang shortly before Christmas in 2014. When Maya Fischer answered, a nurse from the nursing home where her mother had been staying for more than a decade was on the other end of the line. In her Minnesota home, Fischer braced herself for difficult news. "When you receive a phone call from the nursing home, your first thought is that ... my mother has passed," Fischer said. The news was indeed troubling, but it was not what she expected. Content by Realtor.com What makes a neighborhood so special?