UPDATE Weekly

Both the House and Senate have passed the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014. The IMPACT Act (House Bill H.R. 4994) is slated to improve quality data reporting for Medicare Post-Acute Care providers. The bill is currently awaiting the President’s signature. According to the Congressional Research Service the bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to:

• Require post-acute providers to report standardized patient assessment data
• Modify data tools to allow exchange of data between the Payment Advisory Commission and other providers
• Reduce by 2.0 percent the update to market basket for SNFs that don’t report data
• Study the effect of individual socioeconomic status on quality, etc.

According to American Health Care Association President and CEO Mark Parkinson, “The IMPACT Act proposes substantial changes to reporting systems and Medicare payments that could ultimately improve health care outcomes for millions of Americans. IMPACT would make it easier to compare quality across different post-acute care settings and it would improve discharge planning in both hospitals and post-acute care facilities. The Act also would move toward a more balanced, site neutral system of payments by using data to begin aligning payment systems with the individual needs of patients.”

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To help educate Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) providers, Palmetto GBA is providing a ‘Medical Review Spotlight’ self-paced learning Webcast entitled Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Beneficiary Edits, Lower RUG Codes. This Webcast is designed to provide important documentation and billing guidelines to assist your facility in staying compliant with Medicare rules and regulations when billing your claims.

Please note registration for the Webcast is required. Please include your PTAN and NPI when registering.

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Each quarter, the Fiscal Intermediary Shared System (FISS) is updated to include new logic for claims processing, pricing, etc.

When the release is installed, Palmetto GBA places a temporary ‘hold’ to ensure the release is installed properly. During this time, claims with dates of service of October 1, 2014, or later will be held in the status/locations listed below. Claims will be released on or about October 17, 2014, to continue processing.

This process does not apply to home health requests for accelerated payments (RAPs) or hospice notices of election (NOEs).

Providers should be reminded that Medicare claims processed by the 30th day from claim receipt are considered timely. Beginning on the 31st day from receipt, interest will be applied to claims that have not been processed.

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced a new structure for the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs). In August 2014, CMS awarded five-year contracts to 14 Quality Innovation Networks (QIN-QIOs), each covering two to six states. As a result of the changes, some nursing homes and other providers will now work with a different QIO than in the past. GMCF will serve as the QIN-QIO for North Carolina and Georgia. Click here to see which states, District of Columbia and territories are covered by each QIN-QIO. These organizations will work with healthcare providers on data-driven quality initiatives. (See CMS Web site or trade association for the QIN-QIOs, The American Health Quality Association Web site for more information.

The next phase of work for the QIN-QIOs continues to focus on quality-improvement support for nursing homes. SPACE ~ Southern Partners Action Collaborative for Excellence will begin recruitment this month for our upcoming collaborative that kicks off in April 2015. Click here for an outline of the components of the Scope of Work (SOW) that relate specifically to nursing homes Advancing Excellence’s resource information and nine data collection tools will continue to be very useful to the QIN-QIOs and to nursing homes in the 11th SOW.

If you are unable to find your QIN-QIO in the directory, please e-mail the AE help desk at help@nhqualitycampaign.org and enter password assistance in the subject line. Remember to include your provider number and complete nursing home mailing address in your e-mail.

To learn more about Advancing Excellence, click here.

To read the September Advancing Excellence newsletter, click here.

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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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Below is a listing of the 2015 Fabulous Fifty recipients. NCHCFA would like to thank all facilities that submitted nominations. We had a tremendous response to help recognize front-line staff for their contributions. Each of this year’s recipients will be honored at the Awards program in their district. The 15th Annual Fabulous Fifty Special Recognition Awards program will be at the following locations:

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

District I
Jill Clayton– Givens Highland Farms
Darlene Cullins– Skyland Care Center
Samuel Green- Smoky Mountain Health & Rehab Center
Deborah Griffiths- Grace Heights Health & Rehab Center
Mary Littrell- Autumn Care of Waynesville
Lauren Montella- Pisgah Manor Health Care Center
Jessica Moore- Universal Health Care-Fletcher
Becky Summerlin- Lenoir Healthcare Center
Natasha Williamson- Macon Valley Nursing & Rehab Center
Belinda Winston- Silver Bluff Village

District II
Crystal Benfield- Trinity Ridge
Maureen Benton- Peak Resources-Gastonia
Terry Davidson- Big Elm Rehab & Living Center
Annie Evans- Westwood Hills Nursing & Rehab Center
Denise Hazelwood- Brian Center-Lincolnton
Jimmy Sigmon- Trinity Ridge
Barbara Sinclair- Carrington Place Nursing Center
Sharon Thompson- Peak Resources-Charlotte
Lanay Wade- PruittHealth-Town Center
Keisha Wright- Conover Nursing & Rehab Center

District III
Deborah Curtis- Pine Ridge Health & Rehab
Earlene Holt- Peak Resources-Alamance
Reather Massenburg- Hillcrest Convalescent Center
Margaret McKay- The Oaks
Leone Parker- Universal Health Care-Ramseur
Betty Riddle- Peak Resources-Alamance
Tracy Snow- Village Care of King
Irene Stackhouse- Blumenthal Nursing & Rehab
Cindy Wilson-The Graybrier Nursing & Retirement Center
Troy Younger- Peak Resources-Treyburn

District IV
Annie Brice- Westfield Rehab & Health Center
Beverly Brightman- Croatan Ridge Nursing & Rehab
Constance Bryant- Universal Healthcare-Brunswick
Genara Gaskill- Riverpoint Crest Nursing & Rehab
Joanne Hamlin- Liberty Commons Rehab Center
Beverly Johnson- Golden Years Nursing Home
Hermetta Judge- Pender Memorial Hospital Skilled Care
Mary Lee- Liberty Commons-Columbus County
Kathleen Oxendine- Highland Acres Nursing & Rehab
Robin Woodland- Village Green Rehab & Health Care

District V
Marshall Curmon- PruittHealth-Farmville
Arnetta Freeman- Ayden Court Nursing & Rehab
Joe Jones- South Village
Ruth Morgan- Universal Healthcare-Oxford
Frederick Patrick- Universal Healthcare-Greenville
James Price- Capital Nursing & Rehab
Judy Stevens- Franklin Oaks Nursing & Rehab
Joyce Troy- Universal Healthcare-Fuquay-Varina
Teresa Wooten- Longleaf Neuro Medical Treatment Center
Angela Wynn- Barbour Court Nursing & Rehab

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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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‘Culture and Nature’ Of Care Must Change To Sustain Antipsychotic Cutbacks Momentum

http://www.providermagazine.com/news/Pages/0914/%27Culture-and-Nature%27-of-Care-Must-Change-to-Sustain-Antipsychotic-Momentum,-Study-Claims.aspx

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On October 1st, 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 60 set in 1927.

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