UPDATE Weekly

Make plans today to join your colleagues for the third annual NCHCFA Summer Symposium. The three-day event will be August 5-7, 2014 at the Embassy Suites Resort at Kingston Plantation, Myrtle Beach, SC. Call the Embassy Suites Resort at (800) 876-0010 to reserve your overnight room. Use group code “NHF” to identify yourself as a NC Health Care Facilities Association Convention attendee! To make your reservation on-line, visit http://tinyurl.com/2014symposiumreserve.

Please note that when our room block is full, rooms will be on a first come, first served basis at prevailing published rates. Please call the Association office at (919) 782-3827 with any questions. Brochures will be mailed to members in June!

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Yesterday, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) hosted a Webinar explaining AHCA’s SNF PPS wage index calculator. For those unable to participate on yesterday’s Webinar, AHCA is working on posting a recording on their Web site.

The calculator provides AHCA members with:

1. an easy way to calculate their facility’s FFY 2015 (Oct 2014-Sept 2015) Medicare PPS Rates as Proposed by CMS;
2. a comparison between their FFY 2014 Medicare PPS Rates (Oct 2013-Sept 2014) and the Proposed FFY 2015 (Oct 2014-Sept 2015) Medicare PPS Rates;
3. an analysis of the impact any change in the wage index for their local area has on the Proposed FFY 2015 (Oct 2014-Sept 2015) Medicare PPS Rates; and
4. for members who input their Medicare by RUG category data, a summary of their distribution of Medicare days across the RUG categories and across therapy levels of intensity.

You may download the wage index calculator, as well as a user guide on the SNF PPS Web site.

Please note: You must be a member of AHCA with a login and password to download these materials. If you do not know your login and password, please e-mail update@ahca.org.

AHCA will keep you informed of any future tutorials regarding this tool. If you have any additional questions regarding the wage index change, please contact wageindex@ahca.org.

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A new How to Request Retroactive Approval for LTC is now available. The guide explains both:

• How to submit a request for Long Term Care (LTC) retroactive approval on the initial Prior Approval (PA) request
• How to submit a request when there is an approved Long Term Care PA in NCTracks and the provider needs PA approval for retroactive dates

The new guide can be found on the Provider User Guides and Training page of the NCTracks Provider Portal at https://www.nctracks.nc.gov/content/public/providers/provider-user-guides-and-training.html.

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A few months ago the American Health Care Association (AHCA) released the ACO Contracting Guide for SNFs, a new toolkit for members. The toolkit is comprised of three modules that contain a wealth of information on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a discussion of the current ACO regulations, and guidance for SNFs when considering contracting with an ACO. Next week, on Wednesday, May 14th, the toolkit’s author, attorney Jan Murray, will hold a Webinar for AHCA members to explain how to best utilize the toolkit. In this presentation she will discuss the current environment of SNF-ACO arrangements and provide key strategies for SNFs when entering into ACO relationships. The details of the webinar are as follows:

What: Contracting with ACOs: What SNFs Need to Know, an AHCA Webinar event
When: Wednesday, May 14th, 3:00-4:30 pm EDT
Where: Click here to register!

Please share widely with any interested staff within your organization, and do not hesitate to let AHCA know if you have any questions. An archive of the Webinar will be made available on AHCA’s ACO Web page.

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Each month, the Division of Medical Assistance publishes the Medicaid Bulletin. Each issue contains information important to North Carolina health care providers, including nursing homes. The May issue contains the previous article on requesting LTC retroactive approval in addition to NCTracks e-mail alerts, the 2014 checkwrite schedule and others. The current issue and past issues can be accessed by clicking here.

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Palmetto GBA encourages all nursing homes to review the top Medicare denial codes in order to prevent future denials and payment processing delays. To view this information, click here.

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TMF Health Quality Institute, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contractor responsible to produce and distribute the Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) for various professional groups, including skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), will be holding a WebEX entitled The SNF Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) on May 8, 2014, at 3:00 PM, Eastern Daylight Time. The WebEX will focus on: 1) Updates for the new SNF PEPPER, summarizing statistics for FYs 2011-2013; and 2) the new method for accessing the 2014 SNF PEPPER via the Secure PEPPER Access portal on http://PEPPERresources.com. Registration is not required to join the event. Simply click on https://tmfpepper.webex.com/tmfpepper/onstage/g.php?d=924457628&t=a about 15 minutes prior to the start time of the WebEX. The event number is 924 457 628 and the event password is flower. The presentation can be found by clicking here.

PEPPERs will no longer be mailed to providers who previously received their PEPPERs by mail. They will now be able to access them through a secure portal from the PEPPER Website beginning in April 2014. Those providers who have been receiving their PEPPERs through QualityNet will continue to do so.

If you have individual or specific questions regarding the 2014 PEPPER reports, please visit http://PEPPERresources.org to submit questions.

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The “Updated LEIE” database file reflects all OIG exclusion and reinstatement actions up to, and including, those taken in April 2014. This new, “Updated LEIE” (List of Excluded Individuals and Entities) is a complete database file containing all exclusions currently in effect. Individuals and entities that have been reinstated to the federal health care programs are not included in this file.

All the updated files are posted at http://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/exclusions_list.asp.

Instructional videos explaining how to use the online database and the downloadable files are available. View the on-line database video at http://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/online.asp. View the downloadable database video at http://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/download.asp.

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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). Be sure to post your favorite pictures to the Facebook page so others can enjoy your fun and creativity

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The 65th Annual AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo registration is NOW OPEN! Early Bird deadline is July 18th! This year’s convention will offer you the opportunity to deepen your professional knowledge, network with colleagues from across the country, spend time in the Expo Hall discovering new business solutions, and even rock out a little. This is the must-attend event for long term and post-acute care professionals. Register today and take advantage of the lowest registration rates available! Click here to register now!

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We are pleased to announce a new partnership between NCHCFA, the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), HealthCare Interactive (HCI), and the Alzheimer’s Association. HealthCare Interactive created the CARES® on-line dementia care training programs, which are recommended by AHCA/NCAL to help reduce the off‐label use of antipsychotic medications.

CARES® is non‐pharmaceutical based training that incorporates person‐centered care strategies— including HCI’s trademarked CARES® Approach—throughout all of its CARES programs. In addition, individuals can become certified in Alzheimer’s Association® essentiALZ® or essentiALZ Plus after completing CARES programs and passing certification exams. Access to the certification exams is included in the purchase of these programs:

• CARES® Dementia Basics™
• CARES® Dementia Advanced Care™
• CARES® Dementia‐Related Behavior™
• CARES® Activities of Daily Living™

As a friend, supporter, and/or member of AHCA/NCAL, you will receive 10% off any CARES purchase through HealthCare Interactive, so take advantage of our new partnership today and continue to support our initiative of reducing the off‐label use of antipsychotics. Just use Purchase Code AHCA10 at checkout.

To take a free “test drive” of any CARES® programs, visit http://www.hcinteractive.com/testdrive.

To learn more about HealthCare Interactive programs and products, visit http://www.hcinteractive.com?.

Don’t forget: Save 10% with Purchase Code AHCA10.

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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. 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.

• $35.00 (tax and shipping included)

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What factors determine which of us will make it past age 90? Lesley Stahl reports on a groundbreaking study that has revealed some unexpected findings.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/living-to-90-and-beyond

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Fourteen of the original rides from Disneyland’s 1955 opening are still in operation.

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