UPDATE Weekly

The NC Health Care Facilities Association presents “Introduction to 2016 Requirements of Participation.” This session will provide a high-level overview of the more than 700-page final rule. There is a phase-in of the requirements and the training will focus on the portions of the rule that are in Phase One. Major emphasis in the requirements are focused on:

• Person-centered care
• Competency-based design of staff training and scheduling
• Care planning for Quality of Care and Quality of Life with emphasis on person-centered goals as well as involvement in decision-making
• Changing Patient Population to include behavioral health
• Focus on prevention of adverse events to include Medication Management, Quality Assurance and Assessment (QAPI) and Infection Prevention

To accomplish this, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added new requirements where necessary, eliminating duplicative or unnecessary provisions, and reorganizing the regulations as appropriate. Many of the revisions are aimed at aligning requirements with current clinical practice standards.

This information will be presented by Polly Welsh, RN-BC, MPH, Executive Vice President of the NC Health Care Facilities Association. This seminar will be offered in Raleigh on November 10th and again in Concord on November 15th. Click here to download a brochure/registration form. You will need to fax your registration over to (919) 787-8418. You may register on-site in Raleigh tomorrow or fax your registration form to us for the Concord location on November 15th.

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NCHCFA would like to thank all facilities that submitted nominations for the 2017 NCHCFA Annual Awards. We had a great response to help recognize front-line staff for their contributions. Nominations were judged today by the Education and Programs Committee. As soon as all winners have been notified, the 2017 Annual Award Winners will be listed in UPDATE.

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The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33), Section 4541(c) applies annual financial limitations on expenses considered incurred for outpatient therapy services under Medicare Part B per beneficiary, commonly referred to as “therapy caps.” Therapy caps are updated each year based on the Medicare Economic Index.

An exception for the therapy caps for reasonable and medically necessary services has been in place since CY 2006. Originally required by Section 5107 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, the exceptions process for the therapy caps has been continuously extended multiple times through subsequent legislation.

Change Request (CR) 9865 establishes that therapy caps for CY 2017. For physical therapy and speech language pathology combined, the 2017 therapy cap will be $1,980. For occupational therapy, the cap for 2017 will be $1,980. Make sure that your billing staffs are aware of these therapy cap value updates.

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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, contact information is on the Participation Agreement. 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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New Studies Find Links Between Quality Of Care And Hospital Readmissions

http://www.providermagazine.com/news/Pages/2016/1116/New-Studies-Find-Links-Between-Quality-Of-Care-And-Hospital-Readmissions.aspx

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The first American film to show a toilet being flushed on screen was Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

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