Editors’ Top Five Week of August 14

Scientists Aim For Better, Cheaper Tests For Alzheimer’s
Efforts to develop a treatment that stalls the memory-robbing devastation of Alzheimer’s disease have so far been unsuccessful, but scientists are making strides in another important area: the development of better tests to tell who has the condition. (Shirley S. Wang/NPR Health Shots)

U.S. News Announces 2017–2018 Best Hospitals
U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in hospital rankings, today released the 2017-18 Best Hospitals rankings. In their 28th year, the rankings and ratings compare more than 4,500 medical centers nationwide in 25 specialties, procedures and conditions. (U.S. News and World Report)

Take the Generic, Patients Are Told. Until They Are Not.
Consumers have grown accustomed to being told by insurers — and middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers — that they must give up their brand-name drugs in favor of cheaper generics. But some are finding the opposite is true, as pharmaceutical companies squeeze the last profits from products that are facing cheaper generic competition. (Charles Ornstein and Katie Thomas/New York Times)

Elsevier and Visiting Nurse Associations of America Partner on First-ever Online Clinical Skills for Home Healthcare Clinicians
Elsevier, a world-leading information and analytics business, has entered an exclusive agreement with the Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) to develop Hospice Skills and more than 400 home healthcare skills from the VNAA’s award-winning Clinical Procedures Manual. (Market Insider)

Construction Labor Shortage Continues to Plague SNF Projects
A shortage of labor in the construction industry, as well as the rising cost of commodities, continues to play a tremendous role in senior living construction costs, including SNFs, according to recent data from Des Moines, Iowa-based design and construction firm Weitz. (Carlo Calma/Skilled Nursing News)