UPDATE Weekly

The North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association would like to thank our 2019 Elite Champion Platinum Sponsor, QMX Mobile Health, for their commitment and support of the upcoming Annual Convention & Expo and all 2019 educational programs throughout the year. Be sure to visit them on Tuesday, February 26th during EXPO in booths 401 and 500!

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Register today to attend the NCHCFA Annual Convention and Expo February 24 – 27, 2019 at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons/Joseph S. Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, NC! Call the Sheraton at (800) 242-6556 to make your room reservation. Identify that you are with “NC Health Care Facilities Association 2019 Convention” to receive the group discounted rate. Click here to register. Don’t miss the opportunity to earn up to 16.5 hours of educational credit for North Carolina Nursing Home Administrators, as well as up to 15.5 hours of Nursing CE credit!

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The NC Division of Health Benefits (DHB) has published a Special Medicaid Bulletin, Centralized Credentialing Vendor Selected for NC Medicaid, dated January 2019. DHB encourages all providers to review this important information. For details, please refer to the 2019 Medicaid Bulletin Web page.

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Providers are halfway through the transition period that began April 1, 2018:

• To ensure your Medicare patients continue to get care, you can use either the former Social Security number-based Health Insurance Claim Number or the new alpha-numeric Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) for all Medicare transactions through December 31, 2019.
• Beginning January 1, 2020, you must use the MBI on all Medicare transactions with a few exceptions

About the MBI:

• MBIs are random and use numbers 0-9 and uppercase letters, except for S, L, O, I, B, and Z. CMS excludes these letters to avoid confusion when differentiating between these letters and numbers (e.g., between “0” and “O”). Read MLN Matters® Article New MBI Get It, Use It for helpful information, including what to do if an MBI changes.
• Learn about Getting MBIs.
• Learn about Using MBIs.

If your patients need replacement Medicare cards, ask them to call 1-800-MEDICARE and request a replacement. Your patients can also sign into http://www.MyMedicare.gov to print an official card. They must create an account if they do not already have one.

For More Information:

• Transition to New Medicare Numbers and Cards Fact Sheet
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Provider and Office Manager Webpage

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released on new article the introduces SNF providers to the new Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) Webpage. PDPM starts on October 1, 2019.

This new Webpage includes a variety of educational and training resources to assist providers in preparing for PDPM implementation and this article contains a summary of some of these educational and training resources for review. Providers may refer to the PDPM Webpage for more information from its Fact Sheets, Frequently Asked Questions, a PowerPoint training presentation, and other PDPM Resources.

To read this article, click here.

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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 December 2018 has been posted. The updated files are posted on OIG’s Website at https://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/exclusions_list.asp. To prevent significant fines, healthcare providers have an “affirmative duty” to check to ensure that excluded individuals are not working in their facilities.

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released an MLN Matters article advising providers on changes made to the SNF ABN. With this revision, CMS is discontinuing the five SNF denial letters. For the MLN Matters article and more information on this change, click here.

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National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care and Quality Assurance Performance Improvement Tuesday, March 12 from 1:30 to 3:00 PM ET

Register for Medicare Learning Network events.

During this call, gain insight on the Dementia Care & Psychotropic Medication Tracking Tool, a free, publicly available electronic tool that facilitates a structured approach to tracking preference-based care and psychotropic medication use among residents living with dementia. Also, learn about a recently released Nursing Home Staff Competency Assessment toolkit. Additionally, CMS provides updates on the Phase 3 Requirements for Participation from the Reform of Requirements for Long-Term Care Facilities final rule and the progress of the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes. A question and answer session follows the presentations.

Speakers:

• Adrienne Mihelic, National Nursing Home Quality Improvement Campaign
• David Reynolds, National Nursing Home Quality Improvement Campaign
• Jay Weinstein, CMS
• Debra Lyons, CMS
• Michele Laughman, CMS

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

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Date: Thursday, January 24, 2019
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (ET)
Location: WebEx
Register for the Event

One-third of SNF residents experience an adverse or temporary harm event, and the majority of those are preventable. As part of CMS’s focus on raising awareness of nursing home safety and to support safer nursing home care across the nation, CMS and the Quality Innovation Network National Coordinating Center released a new resource: a Change Package to prevent all cause harm in nursing homes. The Change Package is a compendium of successful practices of high-performing nursing homes, illustrating how they prevent harm while honoring each resident’s rights and preferences.

Please join this call to learn more about the development of the Change Package and how you can use it to improve the quality of life and quality of care for those living in nursing homes and other long-term care settings.

Get the Change Package

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The newest Your Top-Line publication was released on Thursday, January 3rd, including 2018 4th quarter Nursing Home Compare data specific to your individual center! Don’t miss out on getting access to the following new data elements in this publication:

• View your quality awards eligibility information
• Check out the new survey Score & Rank Prediction
• Assess your current status of your Quality Initiative progress

To access LTC Trend Tracker, go to https://www.ahcancal.org/research_data/trendtracker/Pages/default.aspx.

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Alliant Quality will be updating our membership on composite scores, antipsychotic medications, and NHSN reporting as well as a Change Package introduction and upcoming LAN events. Alliant Quality is a health care consulting organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety and integrity of health care. Since 1970, Alliant Quality has provided a broard array of services to public and private organizations to increase the value, effectiveness and accessibility of health care. They are the QIN-QIO for Georgia and North Carolina.

Date: Thursday, January 17, 2019
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Title: North Carolina Nursing Home Quality Update
Presenters: Melody Brown and Leighann Sauls, Alliant Quality

Click here to register today!

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The new Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) begins October 1, 2019. Developed and presented by the American Health Care Association (AHCA), the PDPM Academy is a 10-month training effort to help centers prepare for this massive change. It offers both the in-person training and continuing updates and support. Provider members of AHCA and NCHCFA who register for the PDPM Academy will have access to a PDPM 101 workshop Webinar, a full day in-person training, monthly workshop Webinars on key topics and emerging PDPM issues, “how to” Webinars on implementing additional tools developed by AHCA.

North Carolina’s in-person training will be March 26, 2019 in Greensboro, NC! Click here to view more information on the PDPM Academy. Brochures and registration will be made available in February.

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The AHCA/NCAL 2019 Independent Owner Leadership Conference will be in Tampa, FL March 20-22, 2019. The AHCA/NCAL Independent Owner (IO) Leadership Conference is a unique opportunity for you and your peers. Taking place in beautiful Tampa, FL immediately following the Quality Summit, it’s a great way to learn something new and gain insights into some of your toughest challenges.

Highlights include:

• Pre-conference session of LED Talks curated by Provider Magazine: These are short, targeted impactful presentations on topics designed to Lead, Engage, and Discover.
• Owner-to-Owner Town Hall: The discussion will focus on emerging trends as well as litigation, records requests, and risk management.
• Networking and social events that provide invaluable opportunities to share ideas with others from across the country.
• Education sessions focused on your critical needs and questions: You can earn up to 12.75 CEs while gaining important strategies and inspiration.
• A special session on the new Payment-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) – Receive an overview of PDPM, and get all your questions answered. This session will provide a guidance on tools to align your building operations to the new payment model as well as better prepare your staff.

The registration deadline is March 5, 2019. Get all the details and register today.

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The 2019 AHCA/NCAL Quality Summit will be in Tampa, FL on March 18-20, 2019. From sessions showcasing the innovative practices of providers across the county, to short, targeted LED talks designed to challenge your thinking, to peer-to-peer idea exchanges, new solutions from sponsor partners, and informative keynote speakers; you will leave with information and ideas that you can implement as soon as you return to your centers and communities.

Program topics include:

• We Are a Gold AL. Here is How We Got Here
• Best Practices to Avoid Your Resident Being “Lost in Transition”
• PDPM as a Vehicle to Advance Person-Centered Care
• No One Told Me That the Skills I Learned Playing Clue, Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land, Would Be Needed to Be A Leader of Healthcare
• Competent Geriatric RNs – The New Driver of Financial Performance
• Transforming an Organization One Neighborhood at a Time
• The Value of Occupational Therapy: Implementing AOTA Quality Improvement Resources
• Practical Strategies for Recruitment & Retention
• And much, much more!

Escape the winter for the warm Tampa, FL sunshine. REGISTER NOW and attend sessions, connect with sponsors and network and share your successes and your challenges with like-minded colleagues from across the country.

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If you were unable to attend one of our sessions with Cindy DePorter this month, Review and Updates from the State Survey Agency, the notebook used in the training is now available for purchase. Email 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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7 Tips for Letting Go as a Manager

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Only three shows in television history have ever left the air while holding the number one spot in the ratings, I love Lucy (1957), The Andy Griffith Show (1968), and Seinfeld (1998).

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