UPDATE Weekly

Time is running out! Register 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 in Greensboro, NC! Do not 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! To register or obtain an additional brochure visit the Association’s Web site at http://www.NursingHomesNC.com.

If you have any questions or need additional details, please call the Association office at (919) 782-3827.

NCHCFA Convention registration will open Sunday, February 26th at 2:30 PM and remain open until 6:00 PM in the South Lobby of the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons.

Call the Sheraton at (800) 242-6556 to make your room reservation. Identify that you are with “NC Health Care Facilities Association 2017 Convention” to receive the group discounted rate.

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If you are attending the NCHCFA Annual Convention & Expo, we are pleased to offer a multi-functional Convention App for this year’s event. With the NCHCFA Convention & Expo App you can:

• View the convention agenda
• View exhibitor information
• View attendee list
• Receive alerts & updates for the meeting
• Participate in live polls
• Download session presentations
• View all important convention information
• Communicate with other attendees via the News Feed

All registered attendees will receive an e-mail with download instructions this week. Instructions will also be included in the attendee notebooks!

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UPDATE will not be published next week due to the Association’s Annual Convention and Expo, but will resume publication on March 8, 2017.

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This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released information regarding two important changes to the Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) system that will make it easier for providers to successfully submit hire, termination and rehire information for employees. Since the implementation of the system, the American Health Care Association (AHCA), providers and other organizations have advocated for fixes that create efficiencies in the collection of staffing data. The two changes (listed below) are a step in the right direction. AHCA is pleased with CMS’ actions and looks forward to continuing to find solutions that support providers in submitting their data.

On March 19, the following updates will go into effect:

1. Both hire and termination dates will be optional items in the system
2. The same employee ID will be allowed to be used more than once in a single PBJ submission XML file

For more on the latest changes, click here.

AHCA also continues to seek feedback from providers on the challenges they face with the system. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail the PBJ team at staffdatacollection@ahca.org.

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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

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The North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association would like to thank our 2017 Silver 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:

American Medical Technologies – Booth 410
Broad River Rehab – Booth 628
Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP – Booth 609

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During this call, learn about the Creating a Culture of Person-Directed Dementia Care project grant award. The Lake Superior Quality Innovation Network will share information about the new QAPI Written Plan How-To Guide that can assist long-term care providers with performance improvement efforts. Additionally, CMS experts share updates on the progress of the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes and Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI). A question and answer session follows the presentation.

Tuesday, March 21 from 1:30PM to 3:00PM

To register or for more information, visit MLN Connects Event Registration.

Speakers:
Kathy Hagen, The Eden Alternative
Kristi Wergin, Lake Superior Quality Innovation Network
Michele Laughman and Debbie Lyons, CMS

Target Audience: Consumer and advocacy groups, nursing home providers, surveyor community, prescribers, professional associations, and other interested stakeholders.

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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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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 AHCA education library is a living repository of tools and resources to help you navigate the Requirements of Participation. It contains an array of documents divided into three categories- Action Briefs, Tools, and Webinars.

• Action Briefs- provide highlights, specific information, tips and resources about a particular topic
• Tools- are an instrument designed to assist you in implementing the requirement
• Webinars- are an array of communications from AHCA to assist you in learning and mastering the new requirements

Click here to view the AHCA library and return often to see the newest materials available.

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The 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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If you were unable to attend one of our sessions on Updated Regulations with Cindy DePorter, the notebook used in the training is now available for purchase. E-mail Donna Snyder to order a notebook for your facility at donnas@nchcfa.org. The cost is $25.00 plus tax and shipping.

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Millennials working in healthcare: Solving the leadership dilemma

http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/millennials-working-in-healthcare-solving-the-leadership-dilemma.html

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While most crawfish in the U.S. grows to 3-4 inches, there are species in Australia that grow to 15.5 inches and weigh more than 8 pounds – and no, they are not lobsters!

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