UPDATE Weekly

NC Health Care Facilities Association presents RESTORING QUALITY SLEEP-IMPROVING RESIDENT CARE AND QUALITY OF LIFE. This seminar will be offered in Charlotte on April 23rd and again in Chapel Hill on April 24th and will be presented by Sue Ann Guildermann with Empira – Back by popular demand! This session will:

• Restate the key components of the Empira Fall Prevention program.
• Explain the process that leads to the Empira Restorative Sleep Vitality Program.
• Discuss the etiology of sleep and wake in human beings.
• Identify the key components of the Empira Restorative Sleep Vitality Program.
• Identify the top 10 disturbances to sleep..
• Provide five operational actions a long term care provider can do to prevent sleep disturbance.

The cost to attend this seminar is $195 for members and $390 for non-members. This fee includes handouts, snacks, and lunch. YOU CAN REGISTER AND PAY ONLINE! TO REGISTER, GO TO http://NursingHomesNC.com AND CLICK ON RESTORING QUALITY SLEEP. You may also download a brochure. Members may be invoiced. Non-members must submit payment on-line or mail with registration. Registration is open to anyone who would like to attend!

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Overnight House and Senate leaders unveiled legislation that encompassed both a one-year sustainable growth rate patch as well as new nursing home legislation that would reward homes for either cutting their readmissions rates or having low rates.

The proposal, which would launch in four years, with an estimated savings of $2 billion over 10 years, would also give proportionally fewer federal dollars to those nursing centers with the worst readmissions rate, but it would reward homes for either improving their readmissions rates or “attaining” low rates.

The bill was announced today as one way to help cover the cost of the so-called “doc fix.”

The rewards would come from having federal regulators “withhold” up to 2 percent of all nursing centers’ pay at the beginning of fiscal year 2019 (Oct. 1, 2018). Most of the 2 percent withholding dollars would be tagged for rewarding high-performing providers; a relatively small portion would count as savings to the Medicare program.

House Republicans have long argued for such “value-based purchasing” schemes in health care, and the topic was given its own heading in an open letter to post-acute care “stakeholders” by leaders of the Ways & Means and Senate Finance committees last summer. Initial drafts of the bill would have required federal regulators to come up with a risk-adjusted benchmark rate for 30-day readmissions.

The legislation, which includes several elements of the American Health Care Association’s (AHCA) own readmission reduction proposal, was welcome news for long term and post-acute care advocates.

“We are excited to work with Congress in supporting a policy alternative beyond mere cuts to the profession,” said AHCA Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Greg Crist. “Our members are ready to step up and be part of a solution that reduces readmissions, saves funding for Medicare, and produces positive changes on behalf of beneficiaries.”

Medicare spent $62 billion on post-acute care in 2011, and more than half of that went to skilled nursing centers. Of the 5.6 million who used Medicare to help pay for their rehab, 1.7 million went through skilled nursing centers.

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National Nursing Home Week® (NNHW), which begins on Mother’s Day, May 11 and ends May 17, 2014, is a special week in the year. This year’s theme revolves around the “Aloha Spirit” from the Hawaiian culture — it encompasses the qualities of being patient, kind, respectful, and compassionate. We hope you will join others during this week to honor and entertain everyone you serve, and the staffs that care for them! This special attention will make for a remarkable week, especially if you order NNHW-themed gear to spice up the festivities. Visit Facebook (http://www.Facebook.com/NursingHomeWeek) and “Like” us. Be sure to post your favorite pictures to the Facebook page so others can enjoy your fun and creativity

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During the NCHCFA Annual Convention, NCTracks presented the program “Navigating NCTracks” for facility billing staff on Tuesday, February 25th. During this session, NCTracks representatives responded to questions that they had received prior to the session. This information has now been posted to the NCHCFA Web site. Any new issues that were brought up during the session are still being researched. The posted information will be updated when the new information comes available.

To access the posted questions and responses, click here. Please share this valuable information with your billing staff.

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AHCA is conducting its annual, nationwide staffing survey to examine retention and turnover rates for nursing center employees. The 2013 Staffing Survey is open to all nursing centers in the U.S., which are asked to complete and return the survey by Thursday, May 1, 2014. Individual center and company responses to the survey will be kept confidential. Published results will appear in the aggregate form only. NCHCFA member centers that wish to be recognized for their nursing staff turnover results through AHCA/NCAL’s 2014 Quality Initiative Recognition Program must participate in the AHCA 2013 Staffing Survey. Submit your staffing data today!

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Submissions are open for the 2014 AHCA Quality Initiative Recognition Program! Skilled nursing members have the opportunity to be recognized for demonstrating achievement of the AHCA Quality Initiative goals. Members have until Thursday, May 1, 2014 to submit their data qualifying them for recognition. All members recognized through the program will be honored at AHCA/NCAL’s 2015 Quality Symposium in Austin, Texas, and additional honors will be bestowed to those achieving multiple goals.

Learn more about the recognition levels, eligibility requirements and submission steps on AHCA’s website. Please e-mail qualityinitiative@ahca.org with any questions about the Recognition Program.

While nursing centers do not need to submit data for their hospital readmissions and antipsychotic use, centers must submit staff turnover data and customer satisfaction results to AHCA by May 1, 2014.

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The NC State Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators will offer the 2014 Preceptor Seminars on April 28-29, 2014 and April 29-30, 2014 at the Kingston Plantation, Myrtle Beach, SC. You will need to choose the first seminar dates for Renewal Preceptor certification and the second seminar dates for Initial Preceptor Certification and Continuing Education Only. The seminars will be open to all nursing home administrators seeking continuing education credits and/or preceptor certification. This is the only Preceptor Seminar being planned for 2014 by the NC State Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators.

Click here to download more information along with the registration form.

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Teamwork is an undisputed asset for reducing nursing and medical errors, improving quality of patient care, resolving workload issues, and avoiding burnout. This text helps to foster the leadership expertise and partnerships that will facilitate the delivery of the highest-quality care. It based on the time-tested wisdom that leadership knowledge, skills and, competencies gained by training a group of nurses in the same organization rather than a single nurse are much more likely to result in genuine organizational transformation. It is the only text available to focus in depth on building and maintaining effective partnerships, motivating and developing others in the team, organizational analysis, strategizing, communicating, planning and managing change, measuring team and partnership effectiveness through metrics, and leveraging results within and outside of the organization.

To order, visit http://www.AHCApublications.org or call (800) 321-0343.

Product #8306
AHCA MEMBERS $60.00

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NCHCFA continues to have available our most popular educational tool, Mobility and Safe Movement of the Elderly, Improving Your Skills to Prevent Injuries and Reduce Falls, by Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L., FOTA, Dementia Care & Training Specialist. Teepa, with whom most of you are familiar as one of the best in her field, is one of the most requested and popular speakers/educators. This DVD was developed in conjunction with Wake Allied Health Education Center, Durham Technical Community College and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Office of Information Systems. The content is formatted in separate segments in order to customize the delivery of content to your learning objective. Handouts developed by Teepa may be reproduced and accompany each video. To order, contact Jan Williams at janw@nchcfa.org. The price is $35.00 (tax and shipping included).

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‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ Takes Residents Out Of Shell

http://www.providermagazine.com/news/Pages/0314/’Take-Me-Out-to-the-Ballgame’-Takes-Residents-Out-of-Shell.aspx

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Coastal Carolina with 28 wins in 2010 & 2011 holds the distinction for having the most wins in a season and not getting an invite to the NCAA tournament.

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