UPDATE Weekly

The NCHCFA Annual Summer Symposium will be August 9-11, 2017 at the Embassy Suites Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC. Brochures outlining specific program information will be available in June.

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On a conference call last week, officials from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said that skilled nursing providers should submit their next round of payroll based journaling data well ahead of the deadline in order to catch errors. Providers will have until May 15th to submit data for the fiscal quarter lasting from January 1 to March 31, 2017.

While providers’ compliance with the program has not been added to their Five-Star rating yet, CMS officials noted the addition of a badge to the Nursing Home Compare Web site that will show whether or not a facility has submitted staffing data. A green badge indicates that the facility is already participating in the PBJ program; gray means a facility is not participating yet. The badge also includes a note that the staffing reporting program will “be on Nursing Home Compare by early 2018.”

An “advance notice” from CMS will be sent to providers before the use of staffing submissions to calculate star ratings, CMS officials explained.

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NCHCFA Districts are scheduling their spring meetings.

District II
Royal Park Nursing & Rehab of Matthews
2700 Royal Commons Lane
Matthews, NC 28105
May 10, 2017
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

District III
Clapp’s Convalescent Nursing Home
500 Mountain Top Drive
Asheboro, NC 27203
May 16, 2017
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

District IV
Trinity Grove
631 Junction Creek Drive
Wilmington, NC 28412
May 11, 2017
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

District V
Universal Health Care / Fuquay-Varina
410 Judd Parkway
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
May 23, 2017
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Speakers are pending. If you have a subject you would like addressed by Association staff, please contact Eric Kivisto, erick@nchcfa.org.

District meetings allow participants to interact with peers in a comfortable atmosphere, promoting valuable and productive conversation. Space will be limited to 50 individuals but, unlike the previous district meetings, this will be open to any employees of your facility who may benefit from attending.

These programs will offer 3.5 contact hours for nursing home administrators. The North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association is a Registered Sponsor of continuing education with the NC State Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators. Comments regarding the Registered Sponsor Course may be addressed to: NCBENHA, 3733 National Drive, Suite 110, Raleigh, NC 27612.

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The American Health Care Association (AHCA) announces the launch of the new publication Your Top Line from Long Term Care Trend Tracker. This new publication highlights metrics and graphics outlining your progress on Five-Star performance, the AHCA Quality Initiative, SNF Value-Based Purchasing relative to peers in your market, and other necessary data to help you achieve your desired goals.

Distributed each quarter, the publication will also include links for resources from AHCANCALed that will help with specific goals.

To log on to Long Term Care Trend Tracker and download your publications, click here. Once logged on, you can also select which buildings will be included in your download, you can run other reports to benchmark your facility progress against different peer groups and view trends over time.

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National Nursing Home Week® is May 14-20, 2017! AHCA’s 2017 National Nursing Home Week® (NNHW) specialty products are now available for purchase. This year’s theme with logo, The Spirit of America, is featured on many of the available items. This theme underscores the bond between staff, volunteers and residents that capture the American spirit. To purchase National Nursing Home week specialty products including posters, balloons, t-shirts, buttons, and more, shop on-line or call (800) 321-0343.

Members are encouraged to place orders early for best product selection (color, size, and available quantities). NNHW items are very popular and will sell out.

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With a growing library of webinars, courses, tools and resources, ahcancalED has become a valuable resource to AHCA/NCAL Independent Owners and Not for Profit providers. If you haven’t yet started making use of it, now is your chance to learn how and get started!

The Webinar will take a tour of ahcancalED, review some of the programs and rich educational material available, and teach you how to easily navigate through the system. What makes ahcancalED different from other learning management systems is its customization to the needs of AHCA/NCAL members. From the new Requirements of Participation, to QAPI, Faith Community Partnerships, and QI in Veteran’s Homes, ahcancalED is driven by the information that is critical to you.

Register today.

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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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In the Stanley Cup’s 96-year history, there have only been four official engravers sanctioned by the National Hockey League (NHL).

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