UPDATE Weekly

The NC Health Care Facilities Association presents “Updated Regulations.” The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule to make major changes to improve the care and safety of the nearly 1.5 million residents in the more than 15,000 long-term care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The policies in this final rule are targeted at reducing unnecessary hospital readmissions and infections, improving the quality of care, and strengthening safety measures for residents in these facilities. This program will kick off the lengthy implementation of these rules, beginning with Phase One and the new survey process. Much remains unknown as we anxiously await interpretive guidelines and many needed clarifications.

This session will be presented by Cindy DePorter, MSSW. Ms. DePorter was appointed as Interim Assistant Section Chief of the Acute Home Care Section in July of 2013, overseeing approximately 2000 home care agencies, 269 certified home health care agencies, and 200 Hospice Agencies in North Carolina. She is also Branch Manager of Quality Evaluative Systems at DHSR. This section is responsible for Informal Dispute Resolution (IDR), Independent Informal Dispute Resolution (IIDR), Enhancement Coalition, Enhancement Grants, Civil Money Penalties (CMP), and the Quality Improvement Committee. Ms. Deporter also directs Quality Indicator Surveys (QIS), and leads Electronic Plans of Correction (ePOC) that are being implemented by CMS. In this session, Ms. DePorter will:

• Provide an overview of the revised survey process.
• Discuss timelines for implementation of the revised survey process.
• Discuss the Phase 1 implementation of the federal long term care requirements.

Please note that this will be a five-hour comprehensive session devoted to both the new requirements and survey process. Ms. DePorter will return to our convention in late February for a quick review of the implementation and any available updates or commentary on implementation progress from CMS.

This seminar will be offered in Charlotte on February 2nd and again in Raleigh on February 15th. The price is $205.00. Click here to download a brochure/registration form. Click here to register on-line!

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The North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association would like to thank our 2017 Gold Convention Hosts for supporting the upcoming Annual Convention & Expo. Be sure to visit Blue Ridge Pharmacy at booths 425 & 524, Medipack Pharmacy at booths 315 & 414, Neil Medical at booths 301, 303, 400 & 402, NH Med Services at booths 415 & 514 and Southern Pharmacy at booths 501 & 503 on Tuesday, February 28th during EXPO 2017 – Mardi Gras – Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler.

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Each month, the Division of Medical Assistance (DMA) posts the latest issue of the Medicaid Bulletin on their Web site. Each month, the Medicaid Bulletin contains information important to Medicaid providers of all types. To read the latest bulletin, click here. To access past issues, click here.

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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) 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 Leighann Sauls at Leighann.Sauls@area-F.hcqis.org or call (919) 745-4730.

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Make your overnight reservations today for the NCHCFA Annual Convention and Expo February 26 – March 1, 2017 at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons/Joseph S. Koury Convention Center, Greensboro, NC. Call the Sheraton at (800) 242-6556 and identify that you are with “NC Health Care Facilities Association 2017 Convention” to receive the group discounted rate.

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In December 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rule implementing the Advancing Care Coordination through Episode Payment Models mandatory bundled payment program. (The CMS Fact Sheet on the rule can be found on-line here. View the final rule in the Federal Register here.)

This rule implements three new mandatory episodic payment models (EPMs): coronary artery bypass graft (CABG); acute myocardial infarction (AMI); and surgical hip/femur fracture treatment (SHFFT). The two cardiac episodes will be tested in 98 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) across the country. These areas include the following North Carolina MSAs: Durham-Chapel Hill, NC; New Bern, NC; Raleigh, NC; Wilmington, NC; and Winston-Salem, NC. While the SHFFT episode will be tested in the 67 MSAs currently participating in the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) demonstration.

Under the program, hospitals will be held accountable for total Medicare Parts A and B spending, as well as performance on certain quality measures, during 90-day episodes of AMI, CABG and SHFFT episodes, depending on where the hospital is located. Hospitals may share in risk and in savings with other provider types, including skilled nursing centers, but they are not required to do so. The EPMs will begin on July 1, 2017, and will run for almost five years, through 2021. Almost all of the new EPM policies mirror those in the CJR demonstration. All available CMS materials on these new EPMs are accessible on-line.

In the coming days, American Health Care Association (AHCA) staff will review the rule in detail and will release a comprehensive summary of all rule components, including an accompanying Webinar that will be open to all members and will be recorded and posted to the ahcancalED Web site. Because this rule was issued so late in the current term, AHCA will be exploring all options regarding the approach with the new Administration, including strategies to delay or repeal the rule altogether. US Department of Health and Human Services leadership in the new Administration nominated by President-Elect Trump have indicated interest in making changes to CMS’ current bundling payment policy direction. We will keep our members apprised of any new information.

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NCHCFA is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2017 Nurse Aide of the Year Awards and the 2017 Riley W. Clapp Outstanding Service Award! Individuals will be recognized in Greensboro, NC during the Annual Convention and Expo.

District I Nurse Aide of the Year
Mary “Libby” Tallent – Grace Heights Health & Rehabilitation Center

District II Nurse Aide of the Year
Dianna Franklin – Autumn Care of Cornelius

District III Nurse Aide of the Year
Ida King – Peak Resources / Alamance

District IV Nurse Aide of the Year
Marie Cheeks – Quail Haven Village

District V Nurse Aide of the Year
Becky Whitson – Hunter Hills Nursing & Rehabilitation Center

2017 Riley W. Clapp Outstanding Service Award
Kelly Boyette – Southwood Nursing & Retirement Center

Make plans today to attend the 2017 Association Awards Celebration on Tuesday, February 28th for a very special evening! Brochures outlining specific program details will be available soon. Be a part of this special evening and join in recognizing the NCHCFA 2017 Special Award recipients. Providers, vendors and community representatives will unite to honor excellence in our profession. Register today so you do not miss this extraordinary event with Mentalist Oz Pearlman!

Oz is a world-class entertainer and one of the busiest mentalists in the country. He developed an interest in magic at a young age and what started as a hobby quickly became a lifelong passion. After a couple of years spent working on Wall Street, Oz decided to pursue his dream and become a full time entertainer. He has now been dazzling audiences with his unique mind-reading ability for over a decade. Oz’s Client list reads like a who’s who of politicians, professional athletes, A-list celebrities, and Fortune 500 companies.

Brochures outlining specific program details will be available this week. To view the tentative agenda click below:

http://nursinghnc.webfactional.com/files/2016/12/2017_CoventionAgenda-12072016.pdf

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Alliant Quality, the QIN-QIO (Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization) for North Carolina is seeking central North Carolina skilled nursing facilities interested in collaborating on the Special Innovation Project (SIP) Improving Access to Palliative Care in the Long Term Care Facility.

Palliative care focuses on comfort and improving quality of life. A team of professionals helps residents and families navigate through the health care system and make health care decisions that are right for them. Goals of this project not only include providing quality of life and satisfaction for residents of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), but also provision of services that minimize risks of potentially avoidable transfers to acute care.

Often nursing home residents lack advance directives that would assist them at the end of life. When a resident without an advanced directive suffers a worsening of their clinical condition a cascade of care is put into motion and can trigger unwanted emergency room visits and admissions, which can cause other complications. The provision of palliative care services for SNF residents supports person-directed care in a proactive way to honor the patient and their choices.

Alliant Quality, in partnership with SNFs and palliative care organizations, will develop customized education and learning sessions for SNF leaders to better understand palliative care and its beneficial role for the residents whom they are caring for each day. This educational offering will be pilot-tested in central North Carolina with SNFs who are interested in this Special Innovation Project offered through the Center for Medicaid & Medicare Services.

Participating SNFs will have the opportunity to:

• Receive free training programs designed to improve their SNF staff competency and knowledge related to end-of-life care
• Join a learning network with experts on palliative care in the SNF setting
• Partner with palliative care providers in order to improve the quality of life of their residents
• Implement low-burden measurement strategies that monitor resident and family satisfaction with end-of-life care
• Improve rates of avoidable acute care transfers and hospital admission and readmission rates

For more information, contact:
Jennifer Judson RN, BSN
Project Lead, Palliative Care
Office: (678) 527-3473
Jennifer.Judson@alliantquality.org

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Bernie Dana draws on his 28 years of experience as an executive and consultant, his academic training and research in quality management, and his involvement in the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award program in developing this practical guide to creating a quality management system in your organization. He begins with the crucial role of leadership and the basics of quality that will enable leaders and supervisors to shift from the inspection-oriented and crisis management thinking that is often embedded in long term care. He then provides practical guidelines for developing six essential elements of a quality management system that will be the foundation for continuous performance improvement. This new edition provides a step-by-step process for developing a long-range plan and creating and using a balanced scorecard of key measures to assess organizational performance. This is a companion book to Continuous Quality Improvement.

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

Product # 6816
AHCA Members (on-line price) $34.95

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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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Increasing the Motivation of Health Care Workers

https://www.intrahealth.org/sites/ihweb/files/attachment-files/techbrief_7.pdf

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The greatest amount of snowfall in 24 hours was 100.8 inches, recorded in Capracotta, Italy, March 5, 2015.

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