UPDATE Weekly

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has restructured the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) Program to further enhance the quality of services to Medicare beneficiaries. Effective August 1, 2014, KEPRO is the new Beneficiary and Family Centered Care QIO (BFCC-QIO) for the state of North Carolina. Previously, the QIO in North Carolina was The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence. KEPRO will strive to keep a local presence by having outreach staff throughout the area and using state-specific physician reviewers, whenever possible, to provide review determinations at the local level. The same beneficiary protection services will continue to be provided to Medicare beneficiaries. This includes the right for a Medicare beneficiary and his/her representative to contact KEPRO:

• To file a quality of care complaint about the quality of health care received from a Medicare provider.
• To file a discharge appeal when a beneficiary is being discharged from a hospital or skilled services (including a skilled nursing facility, home health services, or hospice).
• For assistance with an immediate problem by requesting Immediate Advocacy.

For more information about KEPRO’s services, please visit their Web site at http://www.keproqio.com.

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Effective with dates of service on or after October 1, 2015, the ICD-9 code sets will be replaced by ICD-10 code sets. To help prepare for this transition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is soliciting volunteers to conduct limited end-to-end testing with the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) January 26-30, 2015. The sample of 50 participants for each MAC will be selected from the volunteers to represent a broad cross-section of provider types, claims types, and submitter types. Those selected will be provided specific details regarding how to test and who to contact for testing support.

The MAC systems will be able to accommodate future dates of service for this testing. Test claims with ICD-10 codes must be submitted with dates of service October 1, 2014 through October 15, 2014. Each selected submitter may send up to 50 test claims over the course of the testing week. Test claims accepted into the system will be processed by the MAC and a remittance advice will be generated.

For those electronic submitter/trading partners who serve in multiple states, and multiple Medicare jurisdictions, CMS reserves the right to limit a particular submitter to test with only one MAC.

To be considered for this testing effort, please complete the Volunteer Testing Form by October 3, 2014.

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A weeklong series of recorded webinars and live chats September 22-25, 2014.

Recognizing that falls within nursing centers, constitutes a reason for high hospital admissions and frequent deficiencies, the AHCA Clinical Practice Subcommittee on Falls has created a week-long event called Falls Management & Prevention Week. The eight, 1 hour, pre-recorded sessions hosted by experts provide a wide array of insights into protecting residents from falls. The series provides great ideas and useful strategies related to sleep, environment, QAPI, workplace practices, regulatory issues, and family and leadership practices. The recorded sessions build upon each other and provide opportunity for centers to view the sessions over and over and share them with staff on different shifts. The program has a companion guide A Guide to Managing Falls Risks (also downloadable from the registration link). In addition, each day at 4PM ET, the presenters will host a live chat to talk with care providers, answer questions and allow for idea sharing from participants.

You can register now for the Webinar series and separately for the live chat.

10 Speakers! 8 Recorded Sessions! 4 Live Chat Sessions! 4 Days! 1 Valuable Resource Guide! 0 Dollars!

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This session is on developing transition partnerships for nursing facilities, cap da lead agencies, and transition coordinators.

Overview: Supporting individuals to transition out of nursing facilities requires strong collaboration among those entities who share the responsibility for a quality transition outcome. This Webinar session will provide examples of quality transition practices, an overview of each entity’s responsibility related to the transition process and suggestions for effective collaboration.

Intended Attendees:

• Skilled Nursing Facility discharge planners/social workers
• CAP DA Lead Agency case managers
• MFP Transition Coordinators
• Others involved in nursing stability planning (i.e.: LCAs, Ombudsman network, etc.

Date: Friday, October 3, 2014
Time: 10:00 AM – Noon

You may register at: https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/27068138351593985. (Note: you must register prior to the session in order to attend). After registering you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing information about joining the training. The audio will be integrated and can be joined either by telephone or by computer microphone. Additional materials will be distributed in advance to those who have reserved a slot.

Call line: (408) 418-9002 Access Code: 137-552-538 Audio PIN: Shown after joining the training.

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NCHCFA would like to thank all facilities that submitted nominations for the 15th Annual Fabulous 50 to help recognize front-line staff for their contributions. As soon as all winners are notified, the 2015 Fabulous 50 will be listed in UPDATE.

The dates for the 15th Annual Fabulous 50 Celebrations are

District I – October 16, 2014, Grand Bohemian Hotel, Asheville
District II – October 21, 2014, Hilton Charlotte University Place, Charlotte
District III – October 23, 2014, Grandover Resort, Greensboro
District IV – October 28, 2014, Mad Boar Restaurant, Wallace
District V – October 30, 2014, Renaissance North Hills Hotel, Raleigh

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The 65th Annual AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo registration is still OPEN! 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.

For information or to register, visit http://www.AHCAconvention.org.

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We are pleased to present the digital edition of the 2014-2015 NCHCFA Annual Membership Directory and Resource Guide. This year’s directory includes the listing of our facility members and trade associate members.

Please consider NCHCFA members first when looking for long-term care placement and professional services. For quick referencing, click on the Table of Contents on Page 5 and be directed to the page you would like to view. You may also view and download the directory through our Web site at http://www.NursingHomesNC.com.

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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 (on-line price) $60.00

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This DVD, 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, 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 accompany each video and may be reproduced. To order, contact Jan Williams at janw@nchcfa.org.

The price is $35.00 (tax and shipping included).

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Reduce your risk of dementia right now

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/16/health/world-alzheimers-report/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

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U.S. women on average own 19 pairs of shoes although they only wear four pairs regularly.

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