UPDATE Weekly

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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Social media usage has exploded over the last decade, and recently, its misuse has become an issue in the U.S. Senate and in media across the country.

Today, there are a range of social media platforms that long term and post-acute care providers can use to work smarter and better communicate with their residents, families and the community. These tools offer new opportunities for care centers to improve resident care, education, and professional networking. Over the last several years, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) members have effectively used social media to communicate center events, distribute health and well-being materials, celebrate center and staff accomplishments, highlight programs, and hire new staff. All of these activities result in better communication and outcomes for the entire community.

Unfortunately, social media platforms also can introduce potential risks to residents, employees and providers. For example, inappropriate use of social media platforms can result in breaches of resident privacy, violations of personal-professional boundaries, licensing and other legal issues, and damage to a care center’s professional reputation. For this reason, AHCA has developed a social media guidance document, which offers critical information (including a template social media policy) to help providers ensure that social media is used correctly. Please note you will need to log in to the AHCA Web site to view this.

Please contact Dianne De La Mare with any questions.

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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 Addiction and Recovery with the Baby Boomer Generation on Wednesday, August 10th. The Baby Boomer generation is beginning to reach middle age and health care providers are being challenged to meet the needs of a group raised in the 60’s and 70’s and since, a group that grew up in the era of the sexual revolution, women’s liberation, and a drug using culture. With this comes an increase in the use of alcohol, illicit drugs, and the misuse of prescription medications. This workshop will address how to work with this growing population and will provide information on assessment and treatment planning needs.

Dr. Martha Early is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA where she is the Director of the Behavioral Medicine Division. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist with over 20 years in the field of mental health and substance abuse treatment and has worked in inpatient, outpatient and intensive outpatient settings. She received her Master of Social Work degree from East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, and her PhD in Higher Education from Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, VA. Dr. Early is adjunct faculty in the School of Social Work at East Carolina University and in the Departments of Health Sciences and Counseling and Human Services at Old Dominion University.

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Join Palmetto GBA, on July 13, 2016 at 10:00 AM ET, for a one-hour informative Part A Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) – Lower 14 RUGs Webcast. This Webcast is designed to provide an overview of assessments, Minimum Data Set (MDS), lower 14 Resource Utilization Groups (RUGs), documentation tips and useful resources.

To register for this Webinar, click here.

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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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Please plan to join your friends and colleagues in beautiful Pinehurst, North Carolina, on September 15th and 16th for the Fifth Annual Autumn Classic Golf Tournament. The event will begin Thursday with golf, a reception, dinner and program held at the world famous Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club. The Pinehurst Autumn Classic is being sponsored by the NC Health Care Facilities Association to benefit our political action committee (PAC). You do not have to play golf to participate! CLICK HERE for registration materials.

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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 will features the element of Clinical Foundation: Diagnostic Quality

Key Takeaways: Diagnostic Quality

 Accurate diagnosis is key to assist all disciplines in caring effectively for an individual.
 Diagnostic error frequently leads to unsafe care, waste of resources and unsatisfactory experience for the resident/patient.
 Improving diagnostic quality is a key factor to improve patient safety.

Probing Questions for Team Reflection and Discussion:

1. What steps can we take to help avoid cognitive error?
2. How do we know if we have obtained and provided adequate information before seeking treatment or intervention?
3. How do we engage all staff in contributing to diagnostic quality?

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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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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Restorative nursing is an essential part of reimbursement, compliance, and the quality of life of your residents. Improper care planning or unclear documentation can negatively impact resident care and your bottom line. The Long-Term Care Restorative Nursing Desk Reference is a new all-inclusive desk reference that describes the clinical aspects of restorative nursing in detail and provides a much-needed guide for nurses in a long term care facility. This resource makes it easy to find instant answers to questions you may have about maintaining or developing your restorative program. The Long-Term Care Restorative Nursing Desk Reference offers the help you need to create or sustain an effective restorative care program that puts your resident’s needs first. This text also comes with a CD-ROM.

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

Product #8241
AHCA MEMBERS $149.00

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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, e-mail your request to Donna Snyder at donnas@nchcfa.org. The price is $35.00 (tax and shipping included).

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Long Term Care Quality At Issue Around The World

http://www.providermagazine.com/archives/2016_Archives/Pages/0616/Long-Term-Care-Quality-At-Issue-Around-The-World.aspx

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In 1916, Nathan’s hot dog stand in Coney Island, sold hot dogs for 5 cents because he wanted his product to be affordable, but the public stayed away, reasoning that if it was so cheap maybe it was not good. Nathan hired people to stand and eat in front of his place wearing lab coats and stethoscopes near a sign reading, “If doctors eat our hot dogs, you know they’re good!”

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