UPDATE Weekly

Starting July 1, 2016, nursing providers will be required to submit staffing information. To assist our members in meeting this task, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) has several resources available. These resources include Webinars, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and information from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The mandatory deadline is less than two month away.

To access the AHCA PBJ resources, click here.

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NC Health Care Facilities Association is pleased to once again partner with Empira to present a full-day seminar for all long term care providers on UNDISTURBED SLEEP & ACTIVE DAYS – KEYS TO IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE OF OUR RESIDENTS. The goals of this grant-funded quality improvement project were to have residents sleep undisturbed throughout the night and be more physically active and engaged during the day. Learn how they changed operations in providing care and services to reach these goals. This session will be May 19th at the Hilton Charlotte University Place, Charlotte, NC and will cover the following:

• 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 5 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 ON-LINE! TO REGISTER, GO TO http://NursingHomesNC.com AND CLICK ON UNDISTURBED SLEEP & ACTIVE DAYS-KEYS TO IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE OF OUR RESIDENTS. You may also download a brochure here. 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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Make plans today to join your colleagues for the fifth annual NCHCFA Summer Symposium. The three-day event will be August 9-11, 2016 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 “HFA” to identify yourself as a NC Health Care Facilities Association Convention attendee! To make your reservation on-line, visit http://tinyurl.com/summersymposium2016.

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For SNFs/NFs, the memo emphasizes the importance of each facility ensuring the rights of all residents consistent with law and regulation. Importantly, nursing home residents must not only be able to exercise their rights as residents of the facility and as citizens of the United States (e.g., the right to vote in elections), but also have the right to be free of interference, coercion, discrimination, or reprisal from the facility in exercising those rights.

In this memorandum, the umbrella term “justice involved individuals” includes the following three categories of individuals:

• Inmates of a public institution: Individuals currently in custody and held involuntarily through operation of law enforcement authorities in an institution which is the responsibility of a governmental unit or over which a governmental unit exercises administrative control, such as a state or federal prisons, local jails, detention facilities, or other penal settings (e.g., boot camps, wilderness camps).
• Individuals under the care of law enforcement: Individuals who have been taken into custody by law enforcement. Law enforcement includes local and state police, sheriffs, federal law enforcement agents, and other deputies charged with enforcing the law.
• Individuals under community supervision: Individuals who are on parole, on probation, or required as an alternative to criminal prosecution by a court of law to conditions of ongoing supervision and treatment.

To view the S&C memo go to https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Downloads/Survey-and-Cert-Letter-16-21.pdf

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NCHCFA is required by IRS regulations to provide members with this notice. No action is required on your part.

Contributions or gifts to the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association (NCHCFA) are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal Income Tax purposes. However, dues payments to NCHCFA may be deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense. Per Section 6033(e) of the Internal Revenue Code, NCHCFA estimates that 16.28% of your 2016 member dues or trade associate fees are subject to Section 162(e)(1) of the Code and therefore may not be deductible for Federal Income Tax purposes.

An e-mail will be sent out today to all members. If you have any questions, please contact the Association office (919) 782-3827.

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Mark your calendar today for the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association’s session/seminar “The Changing Definition of Quality-A National Update.” Long term care leaders are equipping themselves for a new climate, a new day in healthcare. Many changes on a federal level include;

• Additions to Five Star
• New Quality Measures
• Progress on the Improving Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act
• Electronic staffing data collection
• Changes to the Requirements of Participation and a new survey process

These will allow us to reevaluate our systems and find new opportunities to drive quality, improving care for our residents. Discover how to navigate this new environment and become Quality Change Agents. Discover how a systems approach and AHCA’s tools and resources can provide solutions for your organization. Leave this session with tools, ideas and a fresh perspective on how to move forward in these changing times. Topics will include:

• Identify changes that will occur over the next three years and the impact they will have on your setting
• Actions and best practices that will help you and your organization be a top performer
• Recognizing the resources and support that AHCA/NCAL provides

This information will be presented by Lyn Bentley, MSW, VP of Quality and Regulatory Affairs and Marguerite McLaughlin, Sr. Director of Quality Improvement at American Health Care Association (AHCA). This seminar will be in Greensboro, NC on June 21st, 2016. Brochures will be mailed to all facilities next week!

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This is part of a series featuring one element of the Building Prevention Into Every Day Practice: Framework for Successful Clinical Outcomes.

Success in achieving positive resident/patient outcomes is even more critical now than ever before. The link between quality and payment in long term and post-acute care is growing stronger, as evidenced by the SNF Value Based Purchasing Program (VBP), Improving Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act, SNF Quality Reporting Program (QRP) and more. In addition, regulatory activity is intensifying through focused surveys on adverse events, dementia care and MDS. The Five-Star Rating system and Nursing Home Compare have been revised and will add items in the future as it broadens public reporting and transparency. Most importantly, consumers expect and deserve high quality care.

The entire framework outlines key elements from both an organizational and clinical nature that are critical to successful clinical and organizational outcomes. Positively, these elements reflect common denominators that cross multiple care situations. Therefore, instead of being yet another initiative or single focused project to achieve just one outcome, it is a way of acting, thinking and being that will benefit multiple areas across an organization. Each element is addressed in detail throughout the framework.

This week we will feature the element of Organizational Foundation: Systems Driven:

Key Takeaways: Systems Driven

 Improve results by focusing on performance of systems and processes.
 Utilize a consistent, standardized approach.
 Build in problem solving to everyday activities

Probing Questions for Team Reflection and Discussion:

1. How are staff supported to initiate problem solving in a timely manner?
2. How do we monitor the performance of our systems and processes?
3. Do we use a consistent, standardized approach to performance improvement?

Visit the AHCA Clinical Practice Website to learn more about the element of “Organizational Foundation: Systems Driven” and answers to these key questions:

What does this mean? Why is this important? What are some examples? What is my part (as an individual employee, manager or practitioner)? What can my organization do?

Start somewhere, pick one element and work through it with your team.

Enjoy the journey through the framework!

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Developed to fill a widely-recognized gap in management and leadership skills needed to improve the quality of long term care, this resource is based around learning modules that were site-tested in three types of long term care settings and revised based on the resulting feedback.

To order, visit http://www.AHCApublications.org or call (800) 321-0343. Fax orders may also be placed at (800) 869-5605.

Product #8398
AHCA MEMBERS $85.00

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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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We have all changed someone’s life — usually without even realizing it. In this funny talk, Drew Dudley calls on all of us to celebrate leadership as the everyday act of improving each other’s lives.

https://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley_everyday_leadership?language=en

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Opossums don’t “play dead.” When frightened, they become overexcited and pass out.

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