UPDATE Weekly

As we were anticipating may occur in the 2016 legislative session, a bill in the state Senate is moving to repeal the Certificate of Need (CON) laws in North Carolina. In a meeting of the Senate Rules Committee on June 7, it was announced that House Bill 161, which in its present form would make the bobcat the state cat of North Carolina, would be moved to the Senate Health Care Committee for the purpose of stripping its current contents and inserting language that would repeal CON laws effective January 1, 2021. The bill would make no changes to CON laws until that date, and on that date all CON laws would be repealed.

Sen. Ralph Hise, a co-chair of the Senate Health Care Committee and the primary author of the CON language, said he expects the bill to be heard in the Senate Health Committee on June14.

The NCHCFA is actively engaging with members of the Senate and is opposing this bill.

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The American Health Care Association (AHCA) applauded the passage of the bipartisan Rural Health Care Connectivity Act of 2015 (S. 1916/ H.R. 4111).

“We are pleased that rural non-profit skilled nursing providers are now eligible to apply for support from the Universal Service Fund’s Rural Health Care Program (RHCP),” said Clifton J. Porter II, Senior Vice President of Government Relations, in an announcement Wednesday afternoon. “Greater access to broadband and telecom advances will help keep rural skilled nursing providers on pace with rapidly changing health care delivery.”

According to the same announcement, Dan Holdhusen, Director of Government Relations at the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society and AHCA member said, “Passage of this bill marks the end of an arduous effort on behalf of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) to gain access to RHCP funds at the Federal Communications Commission. We are delighted by the bipartisan effort in Congress to settle this matter, benefitting thousands of elders who reside in rural areas and communities of the country.”

The Rural Health Care Connectivity Act of 2015, was included in a conference report on another bill and passed in the full Senate last evening. The conference report now heads to the president, who is expected to sign it into law.

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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. To view the Schedule of Events click here. Brochures will be available next week!

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Do not miss Trending Regulatory News on Thursday, August 11 at 9:00 am during the fifth annual NCHCFA Summer Symposium. Join Cindy Deporter, MSSW, State Agency Director, Assistant Section Chief Acute and Home Care Section, and Quality Evaluative Systems Manager, Nursing Home Licensure and Certification, DHSR, for the latest regulatory hot topics. Ms. Deporter will review numerous topics including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) changes to the Five Star Rating System, Emerging Infection Control Issues in congregate living, Updated LTC regulations, and other revisions to the State Operations Manual (SOM) and much more. The content of this presentation will continue to change until August. Please submit any additional topics that you would like to have Ms. Deporter address to allisonb@nchcfa.org. Register today! You do not want to miss this informative program.

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Call the Embassy Suites Resort at (800) 876-0010 to reserve your overnight room. Due to the popular time of the year in Myrtle Beach, the NCHCFA room block will fill-up! 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. If you have any problems making your reservation, please call the Association office at (919) 782-3827.

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The NC Health Care Facilities Association presents “A National Update-Proposed Regulations and the Changing Definition of Quality.” Long term care leaders are equipping themselves for a new climate, a new day in healthcare. 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 changes will allow us to re-evaluate our systems and find new opportunities to drive quality and improving care for our residents. Discover how to navigate this new environment and become Quality Change Agents. Learn how a systems approach and American Health Care Association’s (AHCA) 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 AHCA. This seminar will be in Greensboro, NC on June 21st, 2016. Click here to register on-line! Click here to download a brochure/registration form! Don’t wait! Register today!

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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 Clinical Foundation: “First of All, Do No Harm” Thinking Built Into Practice

Key Takeaways: “First of All, Do No Harm” Thinking Built into Practice

 Before doing something, we consciously consider potential unintended and undesirable consequences of a proposed action or intervention.
 As we do something, we consciously consider whether we are doing it correctly, and how we know that it is the right way.
 The ability to choose the right interventions and avoid problematic ones lies at the heart of all clinical practice and is essential to “person-centered care”.

Probing Questions for Team Reflection and Discussion:

1. How do we verify and validate information and not just accept conclusions?
2. Do we have and use appropriate references to inform our actions?
3. Do we cut corners? If so, how? What can we do to change?

Visit the AHCA Clinical Practice Website to learn more about the element of “Clinical Foundation: “First of All, Do No Harm” Thinking Built Into Practice” 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.

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The National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes is committed to improving the quality of care for individuals with dementia living in nursing homes. The Partnership has a mission to deliver health care that is person-centered, comprehensive and interdisciplinary with a specific focus on protecting residents from being prescribed antipsychotic medications unless there is a valid, clinical indication and a systematic process to evaluate each individual’s need. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) promotes a multidimensional approach that includes: research, partnerships and state-based coalitions, revised surveyor guidance, training for providers and surveyors and public reporting.

CMS is tracking the progress of the Partnership by reviewing publicly reported measures. The official measure of the Partnership is the percentage of long-stay nursing home residents who are receiving an antipsychotic medication, excluding those residents diagnosed with schizophrenia, Huntington’s Disease or Tourette’s Syndrome. In 2011Q4, 23.9% of long-stay nursing home residents were receiving an antipsychotic medication; since then there has been a decrease of 28.8%, to a national prevalence of 17.0% in 2015Q4. Success has varied by state and CMS region, with some states and regions having seen a reduction of greater than 25 percent.

A three-quarter measure is posted to the Nursing Home Compare website at https://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare. The long-stay measure on Nursing Home Compare, is the exact same measure as below, except each facility’s score is averaged over the last three quarters in order to give consumers information on the past history of each facility.

For more information on this National Partnership, please send correspondence to dnh_behavioralhealth@cms.hhs.gov.

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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 Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (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 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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It’s here and it’s hot! This year’s AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo Preliminary Program is now available on-line! You can even read it on your mobile devices. Take a look at what Nashville has in store for you October 16-19 in this easy-to-access, easy-to-read flip book.

This year’s Convention & Expo offers national keynote speakers, valuable education, professional networking, exciting exhibits staffed with experts ready to help your company excel, and music, of course! In the spirit of the Grand Ole Opry, the Gala Dinner & Show (separate ticketed event) features three artists, each with their own unique style and sound. You’ll enjoy an evening with award-winning county artists Charlie Daniels, Jo Dee Messina, and Phil Vassar.

Once you preview the electronic Preliminary Program, you’ll be inspired to register for the AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo. Early bird registration and savings continue through July 22.

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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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Facebook for SNF residents? It could be on its way.

http://www.mcknights.com/daily-editors-notes/facebook-for-snf-residents-it-could-be-on-its-way/article/501251/

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The World’s shortest commercial flight takes place between two islands north of Scotland, separated by a distance of only 1.7 miles. The flight typically lasts under 2 minutes.

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