UPDATE Weekly

Each year, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) recognizes the men and women who selflessly care for individuals in long term and post-acute care centers, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD) residences, and assisted living communities. Honorees demonstrate selflessness, compassion, and strive to enhance the lives of seniors and individuals with disabilities in their communities.

Congratulations to Trinity Oaks Health and Rehab in Salisbury, NC for winning the Not for Profit Program of the Year award. This award highlights a specific program that adds value to the care of individuals within a community. Award recipients will be honored at the AHCA/NCAL 67th Annual Convention in Las Vegas on October 18, 2017.

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As our members are aware, starting October 1, 2018, all Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Medicare Part A rates will be cut by 2 percent to fund an incentive payment pool. At that time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will adjust payments and return some amount to providers based on how well they do in managing hospital readmissions by meeting or exceeding performance standards. This CMS effort, SNF Value Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, links financial outcomes to quality performance.

Providers may think they don’t have to focus on the SNF VBP program yet as it does not affect payment until 2018. But CMS is currently collecting rehospitalization data that will be used to determine how much centers earn back.

This week we are featuring Elements for Effective Care Transitions, Ideas and Resources for Post-Acute Care Providers, part three of a 10-part resource series designed by the American Health Care Association (AHCA) to support members in reducing rehospitalizations.

This guide identifies four categories of multiple elements that assist in effective care transitions and introduces ten free AHCA/NCAL Webinars that elaborate further on each of these element categories.

For more information about the SNF VBP program and to access additional resources and tools, visit the AHCA SNF VBP Web site here.

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CMS made corrections to the preamble and the regulations text, including changes to incorrect cross-references and inconsistent use of terms such as infection preventionist and infection prevention and control officer.

AHCA has highlighted the following CMS corrections to the final rule:

• CMS revised paragraph §483.85(b) to accurately indicate that each facility must have in operation a compliance and ethics program by November 28, 2019, when Phase 3 goes into effect. On page 68869 of the October 4, 2016, final rule, CMS made a technical error in the regulations text for §483.85(b) by incorrectly indicating that the operating organization for each facility must have in operation a compliance and ethics program by November 28, 2017, when Phase 2 goes into effect. CMS has corrected this error.
• On page 68870 of the October 4, 2016, final rule, CMS made technical errors in the regulations text for §483.90 by incorrectly designating paragraph §483.90(d) as (c), which resulted in the omission of existing requirements at §483.90(c). CMS revised §483.90 to correctly designate the paragraphs in this section and add the omitted requirements related to emergency power.

AHCA will incorporate these technical corrections into the next version of AHCA’s Long Term Care Survey Manual, which will also include the recently released Phase 2 Interpretive Guidance (IG). The updated version of the manual will be available soon through the AHCA Bookstore here.

CMS has also made available a set of ten videos outlining key topics related to changes in the long term care regulations and IG scheduled to be implemented for Phase 2, such as the facility assessment and Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement Plan (QAPI). These videos are available to surveyors, providers, and other stakeholders. Click here to view these videos. AHCA will continue to review these materials and provide further information as it becomes available.

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided notifications to facilities that were determined to be non-compliant with Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) requirements for Quarter 4 of CY 2016, which will affect their FY 2018 annual payment update (APU). Notifications of non-compliance were placed into facilities’ Quality Improvement and Evaluation Systems (QIES) – Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reporting (CASPER) system on July 14, 2017, and also mailed directly to providers. Providers that receive a letter of non-compliance may submit a request for reconsideration to CMS via e-mail no later than 11:59 PM PST, August 13, 2017. If you receive a notice of non-compliance and would like to request a reconsideration, see the instructions in your notification letter and on the SNF Quality Reporting Reconsideration and Exception & Extension Web page.

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This interactive module provides a closer look at Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) ancillary services and includes: basic information, how to bill these services and what are billable ancillary services. To view this module, please go to https://www.palmgba.com/elearn/SNFAncillaryServices/story.html.

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NCHCFA has partnered with nationally recognized speaker, Cara Silletto and her company Crescendo Strategies, to offer you a new online course. Are you having trouble retaining young workers? Do you find it hard to understand Millennials? If you missed our Full Day Workforce Summit, this 90-minute, self-paced online course shows leaders a Millennial speaker’s first-hand stories about the real generational issues on the T.A.B.L.E. (technology, authority, balance, loyalty, entitlement). Course participants will learn critical insights about all of today’s workers in order to bridge the widening generational gaps and reduce unnecessary employee turnover.

How companies use this online course:

• Consistent training across multiple locations
• Catch-up session for those who missed it live
• New supervisor and manager orientation
• Prep for strategic planning or leadership retreats
• Deep-dive diversity training beyond the basics
• Continuing education credits (1.5 NAB-approved credits)

NCHCFA is pleased to offer member discounts! Click here for more information and promotional codes. Click here to start the course (Remember to enter your promo code).

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Register today to attend the sixth annual NCHCFA Summer Symposium August 9-11, 2017 at the Embassy Suites Resort at Kingston Plantation, Myrtle Beach, SC for the most up to date information affecting long term care. You can register and pay on-line. Visit http://NursingHomesNC.com and click on Sixth Annual Summer Symposium Registration! Administrators and registered nurses will be able to earn up to 11.5 hours of continuing education.

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The North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association would like to thank our 2017 Summer Symposium Corporate Sponsors for supporting the upcoming sixth annual Summer Symposium in Myrtle Beach, SC: Equinox Ventures Group, Healthcare Services Group, PruittHealth, QMX Mobile Health, and Southern Pharmacy. We appreciate your support!

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NCHCFA has exceeded its block of rooms at the Embassy Suites Resort for the Annual Summer Symposium. NCHCFA is working with the hotel to secure a few additional rooms for our event. Please call Allison Dew at the Association office at (919) 782-3827 as soon as possible if you need an overnight reservation. NCHCFA will do our best to accommodate all attendees for the event within the hotel properties!

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Summer is flying by and before you know it, fall will be settling in. Now is the time to register for this year’s AHCA/NCAL 68th Annual Convention & Expo, and make your plans to join AHCA in Las Vegas in October. AHCA/NCAL has so many exciting things planned. From education sessions and networking events to good food and entertainment, you will not want to miss a thing.

Experience one of the largest Expos, supporting the needs of long term and post-acute care. Attendees have exclusive access to meet one on one with the business community. These specialists stand ready to share solutions that drive efficiency without sacrificing quality.

If you have been too busy to submit your registration, or haven’t made up your mind on attending, do not wait any longer. Commit now and register today! When registering, make sure to get your tickets for the Gala Dinner & Show with Huey Lewis and the News. It will be a night you won’t forget!

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We are pleased to present to you the digital edition of the 2017-2018 NCHCFA Annual Membership Directory and Resource Guide. This year’s directory includes the listing of our facility members and trade associate members.

Please consider NCHCFA members first when looking for long term care placement and professional services. For quick referencing, click on the Table of Contents and be directed to the page you would like to view. You may view and download the directory through our Web site at http://www.NursingHomesNC.com. Printed, spiral-bound directories will be available for purchase soon if you would like a hard copy for your facility.

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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.

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 Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) 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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This book will show you the true financial consequences of unchecked resident readmission and provide you with the tools to do something about it! It delivers several practical strategies your facility can employ, such as enhanced resident assessment and documentation policies, provider partnerships that improve transitions of care, staff education tools, and methods to achieve resident and staff involvement. You will learn how to ensure smooth care transitions through resident education and effective communication with staff and other care providers, reduce costs associated with rehospitalizations, and maintain or improve the resident’s quality of life.

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

Product # 8238
AHCA Members (on-line price) $129.00

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Action Planning for Successful Retention – Developing employees to their fullest potential is a critical element in the quest for better retention.

http://www.providermagazine.com/archives/2017_Archives/Pages/0717/Action-Planning-for-Successful-Retention.aspx

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The invention of the paint roller occurred in 1940 when Norman Breakey, a Canadian citizen, developed and built the first paint roller which consisted of a cylindrical core with a fabric cover that could soak up and distribute paint when rolled over a blank surface.

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