UPDATE Weekly

Register today to attend the NCHCFA Annual Convention and Expo February 26 – March 1, 2017 at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons/Joseph S. Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, NC! Don’t miss the opportunity to earn up to 17.0 hours of educational credit for North Carolina Nursing Home Administrators, as well as up to 16.0 hours of Nursing CE credit! The advanced registration deadline is Friday, February 10th. To obtain an additional brochure visit the Member Center of the Association’s Web site at http://www.NursingHomesNC.com.

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Don’t miss the opportunity to bring a staff member for free! If a facility registers two staff for Package Two, a third staff member (Activity Director, Nurse Aide or Social Worker) may register for Package Two at no charge. The Expo 2017 seminar for Package Two registrants will include topics appropriate for Activity Directors, Nurses, Nurse Aides and Social Workers. About the Program:

Improving Hands on Skills for Giving Care When Someone is Living with Dementia
Join Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, Dementia Care & Training Specialist, Positive Approach, LLC, Counseling Associate, Duke University School of Nursing, to build on what is now ‘known’ and understood about dementia and develop new skills to better support and help. Teepa will start with your approach, your cues, and your ability to connect. Attendees will learn hands on ways of communicating and assisting with daily life and in times of distress.

Objectives:

• Recognize the role that your words and actions play in the behavior and responses of people with dementia
• Describe some of the critical factors for optimizing positive interactions
• Identify techniques that improve the potential for successful communication
• Demonstrate use of positive communication strategies in an interaction

Techniques: Lecture, role play, group discussion, partnered practice, DVD clip review, case discussion, handouts, & PowerPoint slides

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The updated List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) database file, which reflects all OIG exclusions and reinstatement actions up to, and including, those taken in January 2017 has been posted. The updated files are posted on OIG’s Web site at http://www.oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/exclusions_list.asp, and healthcare providers have an “affirmative duty” to check to ensure that excluded individuals are not working in their facilities or face significant fines.

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Alliant Quality will offer a Webinar on Tuesday, February 14th, 2017, at 1:00 PM aimed at enhancing Person Centered Care for nursing home residents with dementia. Jennifer Brock, LNHA – Task Lead, Post-Acute Care and Walter Coffey, Director, Leading Age GA, will lead this 1 hour Webinar.

Register now by clicking https://qualitynet.webex.com.

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During the “Updated Regulations” training February 2nd, Cindy DePorter received questions regarding the new Grievance Procedures under F 165 and 166. Cindy noted that there is a specific reference about providing the resident/resident representative with the written decision of the grievance. Cindy will cover the specifics of this tag during the February 15th session in Raleigh and again at her session during the convention in Greensboro. Administrators with specific questions are encouraged to join the NH Administrator mailing list by sending a request to dhsr.nh.administrators@lists.ncmail.net.

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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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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 them on Tuesday, February 28th during EXPO 2017 – Mardi Gras – Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler:

Blue Ridge Pharmacy at booths 425 & 524
Healthcare Services Group at booths 527 & 529
Medipack Pharmacy at booths 315 & 414
Neil Medical at booths 301, 303, 400 & 402
NH Med Services at booths 415 & 514
Poyner Spruill LLP at booth 302
PruittHealth at booths 317, 319, 321, 323, 325, 416, 418, 420, 422 & 424
QMX Mobile Health at booth 328
Southern Pharmacy at booths 501 & 503

The North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association would also like to thank our 2017 Silver Convention Hosts for their support: American Medical Technologies, Broad River Rehab and Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP.

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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 lead to 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 Centers 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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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 Raleigh on February 15th. The price is $205.00. Click here to download a brochure/registration form.

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This book presents specific care strategies for all stages of dementia and emphasizes relatively simple interventions that nurses can incorporate into their care plans to prevent problems or address them before they escalate. The guide distinguishes between dementia and conditions that mimic dementia, discusses issues related to specific care settings, presents person-centered strategies for families and care partners, and covers the assessment and management of pain, safety concerns, communication strategies, and ethical and legal issues. It additionally provides numerous resources that nurses can offer to caregivers. Fast Facts for Dementia Care will serve as a daily companion for all clinical nurses who work with older patients in any setting, including the emergency room, medical-surgical unit, medical office, and community mental health settings.

Key Features:

• Easy to use and carry in all patient settings
• Provides communication techniques for different stages of dementia
• Describes numerous interventions for addressing issues such as pain, safety, behaviors, and ADLs
• Includes the “Fast Facts in a Nutshell” feature for quick reference
• Illustrates content with case vignettes

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

Product #8293
AHCA MEMBERS $30.00

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To obtain a copy of the minutes from the Business Meeting held on Monday, February 22, 2016 at the Sheraton Four Seasons/Joseph S. Koury Convention Center, Greensboro, NC, please click here.

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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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Cascading Goals for Better Outcomes

http://nistbaldrige.blogs.govdelivery.com/2017/02/02/cascading-goals-for-better-outcomes/

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Tears caused by sadness, happiness and onions look different under a microscope.

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