UPDATE Weekly

Register today for the NCHCFA Annual Convention and Trade Show, The Art of Caring, February 21-24, 2016 at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons/Joseph S. Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, NC! Don’t miss the opportunity to earn up to 15.5 hours of educational credit for North Carolina Nursing Home Administrators, as well as up to 14.5 hours of Nursing CE credit! The advanced registration deadline has been extended until Wednesday, February 17th. To register or obtain an additional brochure visit the Member Center of the Association’s Web site at http://www.NursingHomesNC.com.

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The North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association would like to thank our 2016 Gold Convention Hosts for supporting the upcoming Annual Convention & Expo – The Art of Caring. Be sure to visit them at the booths on Tuesday, February 23rd during Expo 2016 – The Art of Patriotism.

Blue Ridge Pharmacy – Booths 531 & 632
Healthcare Services Group – Booths 526 & 528
Legacy Consultant Pharmacy – Booth 520
Medipack Pharmacy – Booths 213 & 215
Neil Medical – Booths 301, 303, 400 & 402
NH Medical Services – Booths 417 & 516
PruittHealth – Booths 323, 325, 327, 329, 422, 424, 426 & 428
Southern Pharmacy – Booths 501 & 503

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Don’t miss the opportunity to bring a staff member for free! If a facility registers two staff for Package Two, a third staff member (Activity Director, Nurse Aide or Social Worker) may register for Package Two at no charge! The Expo 2016 seminar for Package Two registrants will include topics appropriate for Activity Directors, Nurses, Nurse Aides and Social Workers, such as:

Today’s New Resident: Direct Care Track

Young residents in long term care can pose new challenges in provision of services and choice. Mental well-being issues are sometimes unique in a younger population. This two-hour program gives direct care staff the tools needed to address these challenges, including an understanding of the psychological reactions to younger residents that make interactions challenging, the importance of teamwork, how to make use of mental health consultants and recreational programming needed to shift negative to positive behaviors. Because a unified team is vital to successfully meeting the needs of younger residents – especially administrative support for direct care staff – it’s recommended that Administrators, corporate staff, and Directors of Nursing attend the related session focused on tools for administrative staff.

• NCHCFA will issue a certificate for 2.0 education contact hours for nurses
• NCHCFA will issue 2.0 education contact hours for Activity Directors through the National Certification Council for Activity Professional (NCCAP)
• NCHCFA will issue 2.0 education contact hours for Social Workers through the North Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW-NC)

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Are you curiously creative? Take a break and relax while you explore your artistic side on Monday, February 22nd at 5:00PM during Unleash Your Inner Picasso. Art instructors will guide you through the exciting process of recreating the session’s featured painting “Red Sky” with your own unique twist. Come relax with colleagues while discovering your inner Picasso! Get those creative juices flowing. Absolutely no experience is required. You will leave with a painting that is your own unique creation. Come create memories and a masterpiece.

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The North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association would like to thank our 2016 Silver Convention Hosts for supporting the upcoming Annual Convention & Expo – The Art of Caring. Be sure to visit them on Tuesday, February 23rd during Expo 2016 – The Art of Patriotism:

Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP – Booths 633 & 732
Performance Foodservice – Booth 600
Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP – Booth 628
TMC – Booth 322

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If you’re attending the NCHCFA Annual Convention & Expo, we are pleased to offer a multi-functional Convention App for this year’s event. With the NCHCFA Convention & Expo App you can:

• View the convention agenda
• View exhibitor information
• View attendee list
• Receive alerts & updates for the meeting
• Upload pictures from the event
• Participate in live polls
• Download session presentations
• View all important convention information
• Communicate with other attendees via the News Feed

All registered attendees will receive an e-mail with download instructions the week prior to the event! Instructions will also be included in the attendee notebooks!

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If you’re attending the NCHCFA Annual Convention & Expo, we are pleased to offer a multi-functional Convention App for this year’s event. With the NCHCFA Convention & Expo App you can:

• View the convention agenda
• View exhibitor information
• View attendee list
• Receive alerts & updates for the meeting
• Upload pictures from the event
• Participate in live polls
• Download session presentations
• View all important convention information
• Communicate with other attendees via the News Feed

All registered attendees will receive an e-mail with download instructions the week prior to the event! Instructions will also be included in the attendee notebooks!

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An additional instructor-led training course for providers has been added by NCTracks in February 2016. Registration is now open for this and other courses previously announced.

Friday, February 19 – 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM – Prior Approval – Institutional

This course will cover submitting Prior Approval (PA) Requests with a focus on Nursing Facilities, to help ensure compliance with Medicaid clinical coverage policy and medical necessity. It will also cover Prior Approval inquiry to check on the status of the PA Request. The course is being offered in-person at the CSC facility in Raleigh. It includes hands-on training and will be limited to 45 participants.

For details on the other courses, including the dates and times they are being offered, see the January 25 announcement.

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Election of officers and members of the Board of Directors will be conducted on Monday, February 22nd, during NCHCFA’s Business Meeting. The business meeting will be held in conjunction with NCHCFA’s 2016 annual Convention in Greensboro. All persons seeking an office or a position on the Board of Directors should have their name submitted to the Nominating Committee by Friday, February 12th. The nomination must be submitted in writing or e-mailed and include the candidate’s full name, the office being sought and the facility or company of employment. Please mail or e-mail the information to the attention of:

By Mail:

Nominating Committee
North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association
5109 Bur Oak Circle
Raleigh, NC 27612

By Email:

Karen Lennon, NCHCFA, karenl@nchcfa.org

Nominating Committee: David Kidder (Chair), Cheryl Clapp-Coleman and Kevin Cox.

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There are many resources that are released on a regular basis that can be of value to nursing facility providers. Below are links to a few of these items that also include information on subscribing, if offered.

CMS Provider eNews
NCTracks Mailing List
AHCA’s Provider Daily You can request to receive Provider Daily by sending an e-mail request to Katherine Merullo at kmerullo@ahca.org.

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Alliant Quality wants to encourage SNFs to keep signing up for the National Collaborative – or SPACE. Alliant recommends having as much time as possible to get started on QAPI improvement work and improving facility quality measures in a systems approach to improve their five star and composite scores.

Alliant Quality is the Medicare Quality Innovation Network (QIN)-Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for North Carolina. Under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Alliant Quality invites your nursing home to participate in a collaborative designed to ensure that every nursing home resident receives the highest quality of care.

The Collaborative offers an exciting opportunity to learn from high performing nursing homes regarding their processes as they pertain to consistent/permanent staff assignment, teamwork and communications, leadership, regulatory compliance, clinical models, and quality of life indicators. The Collaborative aligns national nursing home quality initiatives and partnerships such as the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign, The Partnership to Improve Dementia Care, and Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI). Targeted focus areas will include increasing mobility, decreasing unnecessary use of antipsychotics in residents with dementia, decreasing potentially avoidable hospitalizations and decreasing healthcare acquired infections and conditions.

When ready to register, click here for the Participation Agreement and fax or e-mail it back to Lisa Klemis. For more details, e-mail Jennifer Brock at Jennifer.Brock@area-F.hcqis.org or call (678) 527-3417.

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When you have to replace an RN, the average cost is one hundred thousand dollars. By the time you find the right candidate, hire, train, and help them become productive, it could cost 150% of their base salary. It’s a lot less expensive to keep the employees you have, especially in a competitive market!

• Gero Nurse Prep prepares RNs for successful attainment of board certification as Gerontological Nurses, the gold standard of excellence.
• Employer support for continuing education and board certification can increase RN job satisfaction.
• Satisfied, well-trained, and committed RNs provide better quality care.
• RN satisfaction and a supportive workplace are linked to decreased turnover rates.

In addition to staff retention, your support of certification is an investment in your center’s performance, reputation, and residents. To learn more about these and other benefits of the course please go to http://geronurseprep.org.

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This book will show you the true financial consequences of unchecked resident readmission and provide you with the tools to do something about it! It delivers several practical strategies your facility can employ, such as enhanced resident assessment and documentation policies, provider partnerships that improve transitions of care, staff education tools, and methods to achieve resident and staff involvement. You will learn how to ensure smooth care transitions through resident education and effective communication with staff and other care providers, reduce costs associated with re-hospitalizations and maintain or improve the resident’s quality of life.

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

Product #8238
AHCA MEMBERS $129.00

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Important information for residents and families… This brochure outlines what physical restraints are, when they should be used, rules and regulations concerning restraints, and making decisions about using them. To order, e-mail your request to Donna Snyder at donnas@nchcfa.org.

• NCHCFA Member: $30.00 per 100 brochures plus tax and shipping
• Non-Members: $60.00 per 100 brochures plus tax and shipping

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Too Many Residents Die In Pain, JAMDA Editor Argues

http://www.providermagazine.com/news/Pages/2016/0216/Too-Many-Residents-Die-In-Pain,-JAMDA-Editor-Argues.aspx

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The charcoal briquette was invented in 1920 by Henry Ford, with help from Thomas Edison.

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