E-News Update Articles

Staff at Tremont Rehabilitation and Skilled Center in Wareham recently hosted State Representative Susan Williams Gifford, who spent time visiting with residents and discussing nursing home issues with facility staff. Left to Right: Administrator Mary Ann Liatsis, Admissions Coordinator Amy Lawrence, State Representative Susan Williams Gifford, Director of Nursing Nadine Rousseau, Housekeeping Linda Wager, Staff Development Bonnie McLaughlin, and Activities Director Nancy Perry.

At the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs hearing on May 7th, Frank Romano, President of Essex Group Management Corp and Mass Senior Care Association Board Member provided oral testimony in support of H.595, An Act Relative to Assisted Living Facility Care filed by State Representative James Arciero (D-Westford). This legislation would require the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) to implement an informal dispute resolution (IDR) process that allows operators of assisted living residences to appeal EOEA findings. The IDR

To assist members in contemplating potential conversions of non-licensed space, please review the attached memo that provides additional detail and guidance on what the regulatory change means to your facility.

In response to concerns raised by Mass Senior Care, MassHealth has provided clarification that its April 1, 2019 Eligibility Operations Memorandum 19-05, Replacement of the Eligibility Review for Seniors and Certain People Needling Long-Term-Care Services (MER) form refers specifically to individuals who live in the community and are determined eligible using traditional MassHealth rules. MassHealth has indicated that this memorandum is not about the form to re-determine eligibility for individuals residing in Long Term Care/Skilled Nursing Facilities.

The Department of Family and Medical Leave has issued the following updates: Employer Notice to Employees - The deadline for employer notice to employees has been extended from May 31 to June 30, 2019. The notice, which may be provided electronically, must include the opportunity for an employee or self-employed individual to acknowledge receipt or decline to acknowledge receipt of the information. Federal Employer Identification Number - The identification number assigned by the Department of Family and Medical Leave will

On April 28, employees, residents, families, friends and community members came together to celebrate the 100 thanniversary of Chelsea Jewish Lifecare. Governor Charlie Baker recognized this momentous day by issuing a Citation in honor of this special anniversary. The non-profit organization operates campuses in Chelsea, Peabody and Longmeadow, Massachusetts, employing over 2,000 individuals and taking care of over 1,000 individuals every day. A highlight of the event was a heartfelt tribute to the 49 staff members who have worked at

The Massachusetts Senate is currently working on its FY 2020 state budget and your local state senator has an opportunity to make budget decisions that will prioritize nursing home care.

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) has adopted revised rates for services provided by temporary nursing to licensed hospitals and nursing facilities – 101 CMR 345/Temporary Nursing Services. The amendments establish the rate limits for temporary nursing agency services for each geographic region as purchased by hospitals and nursing facilities effective March 1, 2019.

Please join hundreds of us at the State House for Mass Senior Care's Advocacy Day on Tuesday, May 21st at 10:00 a.m. Advocacy Day is one of the Association's most important events of the year.

As a follow-up to the April 18 guidance article on C. auris, the Department of Public Health hosted a webinar in June 2018, "Candida auris: A Fungus We Don't Want Among Us". C. auris remains rare in Massachusetts. There were no cases detected in 2018 and none to date in 2019. To view the webinar click here. To access the hand-outs, please click here.

MassHealth requires that nursing facilities and chronic disease and rehabilitation inpatient hospitals account for the balances of personal needs allowance (PNA) account funds. MassHealth has issued its annual LTC Bulletin for the accounting of balances of personal needs allowances (PNA) for residents in LTC facilities. For 2018, if a provider does not submit the PNA form by Friday, May 31, 2019, or if the filing is incomplete and not reconciled to the bank statement, the provider may be subject to

Thanks to the tremendous effort of the nursing home community from across the Commonwealth, Mass Senior Care is pleased to report the House of Representatives adopted House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano's Nursing Home Investment Amendment #479 in its House FY 2020 budget recommendation.

The Massachusetts Culture Change Coalition invites you to participate in a new round of regional forums, designed to bring together long term care providers and other stakeholders interested in pursuing person-centered care. Regional forums serve as venues to share information and ideas about culture change and provide resources to help you get started or expand on your culture change journey. The focus of the Spring 2019 forums is to help providers learn how to offer residents person centered dining and

On June 3-4, AHCA/NCAL's Congressional Briefing offers members an invaluable opportunity to meet with Members of Congress. You will get an update on the latest happenings in long term and post-acute care on a national level, and then meet with your Congressman and their staff on Capitol Hill. Please contact Jennifer Chen at jchen@maseniorcare.org if you plan to attend.

Mass Senior Care extends congratulations to the 24 members who completed the Strategies for Success: Building Nursing Leadership course on April 18th. This group of individuals met once a week for 6-weeks, learning the fundamental building blocks of nurse leadership from experts in the long term care profession. Graduates included: Lauren Beckman, Lisa Braga, Tanya Cesar, Kate Columbus, Carin Degrenier, GuyChardine Fleurant, Laurie Hart, Paula Lawrence, Betty Lemite, Christina Loconte, Jamie McAdam, Rachael McCullough, Bailey McDonald, Jane Mute, Medjine Najac

Legislators from across the state visited Mass Senior Care facility members on the need to invest in quality resident care and staff for the FY 2020 budget. Mass Senior Care continues to encourage members to host legislative events which will allow elected officials to see firsthand the valuable services your facility provides. The Answering The Call To Care Campaign Toolkit provides a step-by-step guide on how your facility can host a successful event. State Senator Michael Barrett (D-Lexington) visits Palm

On April 5, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted on their MDS 3.0 Technical Information web page the final version of the MDS 3.0 Item Sets (Version 1.17.1) which will be effective October 1, 2019. These changes will correspond with and support the implementation of the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) that is replacing the Resource Utilization Groups, version four (RUG-IV) model for determining the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system (SNF PPS) per-diem case-mix payment

The Massachusetts Culture Change Coalition invites you to participate in a new round of regional forums, designed to bring together long term care providers and other stakeholders interested in pursuing person-centered care. Regional forums serve as venues to share information and ideas about culture change and provide resources to help you get started or expand on your culture change journey. The focus of the Spring 2019 forums is to help providers learn how to offer residents person centered dining and

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the Provision of Human Service Transportation (HST) on the Commonwealth’s eProcurement website, COMMBUYS. The purpose of the RFI is to strengthen the current HST Brokerage System’s coordinated approach to providing transportation to multiple health and human service agencies. Please note that as part of the RFI, EOHHS is exploring the possibility of expanding its HST Brokerage System to include non-emergency transportation services

AHCA has issued the following memorandum in regard to Guidance on Emerging Infection Candida Auris . C. auris is an emerging yeast that can be misidentified as other organisms, is multidrug-resistant, and can spread in health care settings. The April 14th edition of the New York Timesincluded an article here . It is important to know how to identify, treat, and control the spread of this organism. The resources on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website meant for

On April 10th, the Committee on House Ways and Means (HWM) released its version of the state FY2020 budget. The Committee's recommendation includes an additional $30 Million in funding for nursing home care and establishes a Nursing Facility Emergency Task Force to make recommendations on long term sustainability of the nursing facility sector.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a toolkit highlighting innovative strategies that Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) use to coordinate and manage care for their diverse beneficiary populations to ensure high-quality effective care is provided at the right time and in the right setting. The toolkit includes a section on ‘Coordinating Care for Beneficiaries Who Require Treatment in a SNF.’ Along with the 14-page toolkit, the agency also released seven case studies detailing how individual ACOs

Acts of kindness, compassion and generosity happen every day in the 400 skilled nursing facilities that serve our frail elderly and disabled residents in Massachusetts, but we take time every year to celebrate our residents and staff for one week during National Skilled Nursing Care Week that begins on Mother’s Day, May 12. We celebrate the lives that our residents live, their history and their future. We celebrate the time spent by our staff with our residents, the nurses and

The Department of Family and Medical Leave has posted on its website the notice employers and covered business are required to provide to their current workforce notifying them about the state's Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) law. This includes information about contributions, benefits, and protections as outlined in the law (M.G.L. c. 175M sec. 4) on or before May 31, 2019. The notice, which may be provided electronically, must include the opportunity for an employee or self-employed individual to

The Massachusetts Senate GOP Caucus conducted listening sessions at three Mass Senior Care member nursing facilities. Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, Senator Vinny deMacedo, Senator Dean Tran, Senator Ryan Fattman and Senator Patrick O’Connor heard directly from front-line operators and staff on the current nursing facility financial, workforce and regulatory challenges facing the sector.

Mass Senior Care invites staff at member facilities to participate in various committees designed to share information on the topics of clinical quality, regulatory, human resources and finance and reimbursement. This information and feedback will assist MSCA staff with developing policy positions and prioritizing strategic initiatives. Committee meetings are held in Mass Senior Care’s office in Waltham. Facility members are invited to participate. If you are interested in attending one of the upcoming committee meetings, please contact Jennifer Chen. Upcoming

assHealth is conducting a Technical Refresh of the MassHealth Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) to replace its HIPAA compliance and translator tool. This technical refresh will be phased in through March 2020. The tool is used to validate HIPAA compliance and translate the HIPAA compliant transactions to an XML format so that they can be processed within MassHealth’s MMIS. All HIPAA transactions (inbound/outbound) processed through MassHealth’s MMIS will be affected by this technical refresh. All trading partners who submit or

Mass Senior Care invites staff at member facilities to participate in various committees designed to share information on the topics of clinical quality, regulatory, human resources and finance and reimbursement. This information and feedback will assist MSCA staff with developing policy positions and prioritizing strategic initiatives. Committee meetings are held in Mass Senior Care’s office in Waltham. Facility members are invited to participate. If you are interested in attending one of the upcoming committee meetings, please contact Jennifer Chen. Upcoming

The Massachusetts Senior Care Foundation's annual scholarship program assists long term care staff in meeting their personal and professional goals through furthering their education. Since 1985, the Foundation has awarded $2.9 million in scholarships to help nearly 1,600 long term care staff to advance their educational and professional development in long term care. The Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2019 scholarship awards. Scholarships from $500 to $2,000 will be awarded to selected applicants to help cover direct, out

On Monday, the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs held a hearing on long term care services and supports including Senate Bill 352 and House Bill 610. Nursing home operators, vendors, caregivers, residents and family members testified at the hearing on the critical need to update funding for nursing facility care to stabilize the sector.

In its latest guidance on the ongoing transition to the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) set to occur October 1, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a number of materials for stakeholders to review, including updates to its PDPM-related frequently asked questions (FAQs). In addition to the FAQs, CMS also released additional updated resources relevant to PDPM implementation, including various coding crosswalks and classification logic.

More than 600 long term care providers from across the state gathered this week at the Mass Senior Care Association Spring Conference & Trade Show at the Boxboro Regency Hotel & Conference Center. With a focus on PDPM: The Journey Continues, attendees learned strategies and techniques to help them successfully implement PDPM from Jennifer Gross, Senior Healthcare Specialist at PointRight and Mark Reagan, Managing Partner at Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, PC. Tara Gregorio, Mass Senior Care Association President, updated members

The enhanced Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) review and correct reports are now available, on demand in the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reporting (CASPER) application. In addition to enhanced sorting functionality, this report now includes patient level data and automated CSV file creation functionality that contains patient level results. Providers can access these reports by selecting the CASPER Reporting link on the “Welcome to the CMS QIES Systems for Providers” webpage.

On April 8th, AHCA hosted a webinar summarizing the new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Five-Star Rating System changes that will be updated on Nursing Home Compare later this month. The webinar is now available for viewing here . A member toolkit that includes talking points, a letter to families and a letter to payors is available to download on ahcancalED here . As a reminder, you can view the CMS announcement on the changes here and the

On April 10th, the Committee on House Ways and Means (HWM) released its version of the state FY2020 budget. The Committee's recommendation includes an additional $30 Million in funding for nursing home care; establishes a Nursing Facility Emergency Task Force to make recommendations on long term sustainability of the nursing facility sector.

Hats off to the facilities listed below for Answering the Call to Care! These facilities hosted state legislators who who toured and spent time meeting with staff and residents discussing the issues that are impacting long term care workers and residents. Keystone Center, Leominster Senator Dean Tran Southbridge Rehab Senator Ryan Fattman and Representative Peter Durant South Cove Manor at Quincy Point State Senator John Keenan, Helen Chin Schlichte, Board of Directors, CEO Bill Graves, Administrator Li Chen Hancock Park

The Joint Committee on Elder Affairs will be accepting public testimony on Senate Bill 352 and House Bill 610, Acts Relative to Stabilizing the Commonwealth’s Nursing Facilities on Monday, April 8, 2019 at 1:00 PM at the Massachusetts State House in hearing room A-1. This important legislation filed by Representative Tom Golden, Jr. (D-Lowell), Senate President Emerita Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) and scores of co-sponsors would modernize the state’s funding formula for nursing home care. There will be panels of nursing

Here are some of the latest resources that are available for people who attended Mass Senior Care’s January 22nd PDPM Academy: The recording of the PDPM March 26th webinar is available for you to view at your convenience, and The Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) – Compliance Tool Kit Version 1.0, March 2019 Publication To quickly refer to these new items please follow the steps below: Log in to https://educate.ahcancal.org/ Click "my dashboard" Scroll to the bottom of the page and

On March 30th, Tara Gregorio, President of Mass Senior Care, presented testimony to the House Committee on Ways and Means urging the Legislature to update MassHealth funding for nursing facility care in State Fiscal Year 2020 using more current 2017 labor and resident care costs. Gregorio noted that the funding is critically needed to protect access to quality resident care and to address the growing nursing facility financial and workforce crisis. The Commonwealth’s nursing facilities are facing an unprecedented financial

On March 29th, the Department of Family and Medical Leave updated its draft Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) regulations. The revised draft is posted on the Department's website. The Department plans to hold at least two public hearings beginning in May. The Department expects to promulgate the final regulations ahead of the statute’s July 1stimplementation date. Additional information on the PFML, including a Q &A for employers and employees can also be found on The Department of Family and

This event is sold out. We look forward to seeing members next Wednesday in Boxboro!

Hat's off to the Keystone Center in Leominster for Answering the Call to Care! On March 22nd, staff from the facility hosted State Representative Natalie Higgins who toured the facility and spent time meeting with staff and residents discussing the issues that are impacting long term care workers and residents. In addition, an op-ed column “ Ferency: Don’t balance a budget at the elderly’s expense ” by Cathy Ferency, a family member of a resident at Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled

The Massachusetts House of Representatives is currently working on its FY 2020 state budget and your local state representative has an opportunity to make budget decisions that will prioritize nursing home care. To build awareness and support for our Answering the Call to Care Campaign , please contact your local legislator to make nursing home care a priority in the state budget. Take Action and Call Your Local State Representative at 617-410-5227 To be connected to your local State Representative’s

The Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave has posted on its website an employer and employee toolkit. The toolkits include contribution rate calculators, informative videos, workplace posters, and other useful information designed to assist people with planning for the implementation of the Commonwealth's Paid Family and Medical leave law. The law takes effect on July 1, 2019. To sign up for email updates and news from the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave, please click here.

MassHealth has posted on its website an updated payment amount for the 3rdinstallment of the SFY 2019 Direct Care Staff Payment. The payment, scheduled to be issued in April, has been revised slightly upward.

Here are some of the latest resources that are available for people who attended Mass Senior Care’s January 22nd PDPM Academy: The recording of the PDPM March 26th webinar is available for you to view at your convenience, and The Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) – Compliance Tool Kit Version 1.0, March 2019 Publication To quickly refer to these new items please follow the steps below: Log in to https://educate.ahcancal.org/ Click "my dashboard" Scroll to the bottom of the page and

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reminds all licensed adult day health programs, non-ambulatory surgical center clinics, nursing homes, and rest homes of the deadline for the mandatory reporting of healthcare personnel influenza data. The reporting deadline is April 15, 2019, at 5:00 pm. All licensed adult day health programs, non-ambulatory surgical center clinics, nursing homes, and rest homes must submit influenza vaccination reports through the web-based application SurveyMonkey.® . Please review the Detailed Directions for 2018-2019 Data Reporting for

Tara Gregorio, President of Mass Senior Care, presented testimony to the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development in support of House Bill 1647 which would repeal the Employer Medical Assistance Contribution (EMAC) Tax.

Mass Senior Care will be having an art exhibit featuring long term care resident artists at the Massachusetts State House from May 20-24th. We urge facility members to loan residents’ artwork to be displayed at the art exhibit which will coincide with Mass Senior Care’s State House Advocacy Day on Tuesday, May 21st. Please mark your calendars as we will need the full support of the long term care community to rally for critically needed state funding to protect quality

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Forsyth Institute and the New England Healthcentric Advisors QIN/QIO is proud to promote best practice antimicrobial guidelines for providers in the settings of long term acute care, dialysis, ambulatory surgical centers, outpatient clinics and dentistry. Continuing education credits are available for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, nurse practitioners and dentists. This program will be held on April 5, 2019 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference