E-News Update Articles

Congressman Joseph Kennedy, III toured Newton Wellesley Center for Alzheimer's Care in Wellesley, hearing personal stories from family members and nursing facility staff on the importance of investing in direct care staff and funding for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Pictured: Congressman Joseph Kennedy, III (center) with residents’ family members and staff at Newton Wellesley Alzheimer’s Care. Commissioner Monica Bharel, Department of Public Health visits Broad Reach Health Care in Chatham to discuss nursing facility workforce challenges, impact on federal

Two Mass Senior Care member facilities are being recognized with a 2018 Silver – Achievement in Quality Award by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). The award is the second of three distinctions possible through the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program, which honors long term and post-acute care providers that have demonstrated their commitment to improving the quality of care for seniors

Get the resources and training that your facility needs to run an effective antibiotic stewardship program by joining a 12-month national project. Beginning in December 2018, the AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use provides participating long-term care facilities with antibiotic use guidelines, expert coaching, online education, improvement tools, patient education materials, and more to help you prevent harms associated with antibiotics, such as Clostridium difficile. Participants also have the opportunity to earn continuing education credits. To learn more about

The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released its updated list which reflects all OIG exclusions and reinstatement actions up to, and including, those taken in June 2018. This new file is meant to replace the updated List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) database file available for download last month. Individuals and entities that have been reinstated to the federal health care programs are not included in this file. The updated files are posted

CMS is providing notifications to facilities that were determined to be out of compliance with Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) requirements for CY 2017, which will affect their FY 2019 Annual Payment Update (APU). Non-compliance notifications were mailed by the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and have been placed into facilities' CASPER folders in QIES on July 9, 2018. Facilities that receive a letter of non-compliance may submit a request for reconsideration to CMS via email no later

On July 1, 2018, Massachusetts' Pay Equity Law, Chapter 177 of the Acts of 2016, took effect. The statute amends the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act (MEPA) to stipulate that no employer can discriminate in any way on the basis of gender in the payment of wage, or pay any person a salary or wage rate less than the rates paid to its employees of a different gender for comparable work, defined as work that requires substantially similar skill, effort, responsibility

The residents, family members and staff at Odd Fellows Home in Worcester celebrate the Fourth of July holiday with an annual barbecue and live entertainment.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that starting in July 2018 it will post the number of hours worked by non-nursing staff (all staff listed in Table 1 of the PBJ Policy Manual) submitted through the Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) system. CMS will also begin to distinguish between hours submitted for direct employees and contract staff. The American Health Care Association (AHCA) has prepared a detailed memorandum in regard to updates and timeline reminders related to the

This November, Massachusetts voters will consider a ballot question that would set government-mandated nurse staffing levels at all hospitals across the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Senior Care has joined the Coalition to Protect Patient Safety in opposition to the proposed hospital nurse staffing ballot question. Mass Senior Care is extremely concerned that the ballot initiative would result in exacerbating the current shortage of nursing staff for long term care facilities – one in seven nursing positions are unfilled – as long term

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the following updates related to Nursing Home Compare and Payroll-Based Journal data:

The SFY 2019 Appropriations Conference Committee is currently meeting to reconcile the differences between the House of Representatives’ and Senate's SFY 2019 budget recommendations. Mass Senior has sent letters to the Conference Committee on the following issues that would impact long term care in the SFY 2019 budget:

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.

MassHealth is actively working on a waiver request to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that would, among other objectives, seek the flexibility to significantly increase enrollment in One Care and Senior Care Options (SCO) programs.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a note that Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Provider Preview Reports have been updated and are now available. Providers have until July 1, 2018 to review their performance data prior to public display on the Nursing Home Compare (NHC) site. Corrections to the underlying data will not be permitted during this time. However, providers can request a CMS review during the preview period if they believe their data scores displayed are

On June 26 th, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) submitted a detailed comment letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in regard to the agency’s FFY 2019 SNF PPS Proposed Rule. CMS has proposed a new Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System (SNF PPS). The new payment system, called the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), would replace the Resource Utilization Group (RUGs) PPS entirely on October 1, 2019. It is as yet unclear if CMS' proposed implementation

On June 15th, the Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality, the Drug Control Program and Board of Registration in Pharmacy, through the Bureau of Health Professions Licensure released a revised list of controlled substances in Schedules II-V that Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCFs) are permitted to store on their premises in a locked Emergency Kit.

At the June 13th Board of Registration in Nursing (Board) meeting, the Board revised Advisory Ruling (AR) 0801: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Long-Term Care Facilities to clarify and ensure compliance with current statutes, regulations and scope of practice standards. AR 0801 guides the decision making of Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation when a patient in a health care setting has been found unresponsive. Mass Senior Care and provider members worked with the Department of Public Health, Bureau

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final version of the revised policies on the immediate imposition of federal remedies. The Quality, Safety & Oversight (QSO) memo 18-18-NH replaces S&C: 16-31-NH, released in July 2016 and S&C: 18-01-NH, published in a draft on October 27, 2017. With this finalized version of the immediate imposition policies, CMS has revised guidance in Chapter 7 of the State Operations Manual (SOM) related to the Immediate Imposition of Federal Remedies as

The Legislature on Wednesday enacted and sent to Governor Baker legislation that would raise the minimum wage and create a paid family and medical leave program for employees.

On June 15th, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) issued its annual policy report entitled June 2018 Report to the Congress: Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System. This report fulfills the Commission’s legislative mandate to evaluate Medicare payment issues and to make recommendations to the Congress. You can view the entire report or sections of the report from the MedPAC Report webpage. To view the fact sheet, click here. Please note that the report includes ten separate policy sections

The House of Representatives earlier this week enacted an omnibus health care reform bill. The final bill includes three nursing home provisions that Mass Senior Care supported in order to preserve access to long and short term care. Creation of an Emergency Task Force on the Financial Conditions and Future of Massachusetts Nursing Home Care – the emergency task force, of which Mass Senior Care would be a member, would be required to evaluate options and make policy recommendations necessary

Leaders of Mass Senior Care Association advocated on Capitol Hill during AHCA/NCAL’s Annual Congressional Briefing on June 5 th and 6 th. Matthew Salmon, Mass Senior Care Chairman was joined by Frank Romano, MSCA Board Member, Travis Romano, MSCA Member, John Olenio, MSCA Associate Member Medline and Tara Gregorio, MSCA President, who met with the Massachusetts Congressional delegation to discuss elder care issues and legislative priorities including financial pressures on the profession and common-sense regulatory relief. Over 400 AHCA/NCAL members

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is holding a webinar on Tuesday, June 19th at 1:00pm ET on Emergency Preparedness for Providers. The national webinar will address topics and questions related to the new CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule, the 1135 waiver and Lessons Learned (observations) within the past year. Register for the webinar here.

Four residents recently celebrated their 100 thplus birthdays at Hathaway Manor Extended Care Facility in New Bedford. Among those joining the birthday celebration was Wanda Hardy, Activities Director and New Bedford Mayor John Mitchell. It was Diamond and Denim Day for Virginia Brackman, 100, Juliette Higham, 103, Lois Vanorski, 101, and Mary Ferreira 100. (Pictured Below)

The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released its updated list which reflects all OIG exclusions and reinstatement actions up to, and including, those taken in May 2018. This new file is meant to replace the updated List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) database file available for download last month. Individuals and entities that have been reinstated to the federal health care programs are not included in this file. The updated files are posted

AHCA recently received clarification from CMS on S&C Memo: 17-30 Requirement to Reduce Legionella Risk in Healthcare Facility Water Systems to Prevent Cases and Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease (LD). CMS has clarified that testing for Legionella or other waterborne pathogens are not required, unless it is required by the state. Facilities must have a water management plan to assess the risk of pathogens and have testing protocols in place.

We are saddened to share that on June 6 th, Alfred "Doc" Arcidi passed away at the age of 86. A graduate of Merrimack College, Dr. Arcidi earned his Doctorate of Dental Science from the University of Buffalo School of Dentistry and developed a large family dentistry practice in Lawrence. In 1982, Dr. Arcidi founded the Whittier Health Network, a highly successful healthcare organization consisting of multiple facilities spread throughout Massachusetts as well as Eastern New York. Phil Arcidi, one

Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Provider Preview Reports are now available; visit the Spotlights and Announcements webpage for a list of quality measures based on quarterly data. Review your performance data by June 30, prior to public display on Nursing Home Compare. Corrections to the underlying data will not be permitted during this time; request a CMS review if you believe that your data is inaccurate.

Twenty-eight Mass Senior Care member facilities are being recognized with a 2018 Bronze - Commitment to Quality Award by AHCA/NCAL.

In the past weeks, several members have noted unusual outputs from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) tools. Since then, AHCA has been in contact with CMS and CMS has updated several tools to correct errors. Please click here to read the complete summary from AHCA.

AHCA contracted with a law firm to develop a toolkit to support members creating a compliance and ethics program by November 28, 2019 for Phase 3 of the Requirements of Participation. Members must log into ahcancalED to access the resource. This toolkit is a concise summary of the requirements with helpful, practical tips for implementation. It also pulls in best practices from a variety of sources to support providers in building or improving their program. Creating an effective program requires

Each year, the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA) recognizes the leaders of top-performing SNF’s across the country through its Eli Pick Facility Leadership Award. MDS quality indicators (QMs), occupancy, and three years of survey data are used to identify top-performers. Congratulations to the 56 facilities from Massachusetts that were selected in 2018, click here to view the list of Massachusetts recognized facilities.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be hosting a 2-day Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) in-person 'Train the Trainer' event for providers on July 31 and August 1, 2018, at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore.

CareOne Newton celebrated Skilled Nursing Care Week with its 1st Community Day in celebration of National Skilled Nursing Care Week. Residents, family members and community neighbors enjoyed games, food and laughs.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, is pleased to announce a free webinar designed for patient care and laboratory staff from the long-term acute care hospital and long-term care settings entitled, “Candida auris: A Fungus we don’t want Among us.” on June 7, 2018 from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm. Webinar topics: Epidemiology of Candida auris Laboratory testing and identification of Candida auris Candida auris containment and response recommendations Local facility experience with

The Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) of Noncoverage Interactive Tutorial Educational Tool and the The Medicare Advance Written Notices of Noncoverage Booklet are available on the CMS MLN website.

The Massachusetts Senate has acted on a number of amendments related to nursing home care. We are pleased to report that the Senate adopted Senator Julian Cyr's EMAC Assessment Hardship Waiver, which directs the Department of Unemployment Assistance to develop a hardship waiver that may be approved for an employer experiencing a financial hardship due to its liability.

Partners HealthCare will be accepting applications for participation in Year 6 of the Skilled Nursing Facility Collaborative Network beginning June 1, 2018 through June 30, 2018 at 5 PM. Participation in the Collaborative Network is an opportunity for skilled nursing facilities to join a bi-directional, quality-based collaborative emphasizing quality improvement and education. All facilities that are interested in participating in Year 6 of the Collaborative Network will be required to apply for inclusion. To indicate interest in applying to the

Nearly 200 nursing facility staff, residents and residents' family members took to the State House on Tuesday to deliver an urgent message that increased funding for frontline staff and resident care is immediately needed in order to meet the care needs of vulnerable nursing home residents who can no longer live safely in the community. The program at Advocacy Day featured Matt Salmon, Chairman of Mass Senior Care, Tara Gregorio, President of Mass Senior Care, Senate President Harriette Chandler and

The Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) has issued Hospital-Wide Adult All-Payer Readmissions in Massachusetts: SFY 2011-2016 updating previous CHIA reporting on the subject. Key Findings: The unplanned, all-payer readmission rate for Massachusetts acute care hospitals was 15.9% in SFY 2016, the same rate as in the previous year. The risk-standardized readmission rates for hospitals had more variability in 2016 compared to 2015, ranging from a low of 13.6% to a high of 18.1%. Medicare and Medicaid insured patients

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted on its website updates to the following documents: New Long Term Care Survey Process and Slide Deck LTC Survey Pathways LTC Survey Procedure Guide LTC Interim Revisit Instructions

In accordance with the SFY 2018 Budget Act, MassHealth will be sending a message text notifying providers that MassHealth will once again delay processing nursing facility claims for May 2018 dates of service. As you may recall, MassHealth has applied this temporary cash management delay for the last eight fiscal years. For the current year, this effectively means that nursing facility payments for May 2018 claims received by MassHealth in May or June will be pushed back by ten days, from June 25th to July 5, 2018.

The Department of Public Health has released proposed revision to 105 CMR 153.000 Licensure Procedure and Suitability Requirements for Long-Term Care Facilities for review and comment. We are pleased that the proposed revisions include recommendations submitted by Mass Senior Care members including the following:

David Bell has been elected President of the Massachusetts Chapter of American College of Health Care Administrators. David has been a licensed long term care administrator since 1984 and has been an Administrator of Meadow Green Rehab and Nursing Center in Waltham since 1988.

In response to member concerns, Mass Senior Care has been working with the Department of Public Health and the American Health Care Association on guidance related to F700 Bedrails.

In accordance with the SFY 2018 Budget Act, MassHealth will be sending a message text notifying providers that MassHealth will once again delay processing nursing facility claims for May 2018 dates of service.

Please join us!

From May 13-19, 2018, National Skilled Nursing Care Week (NSNCW), formerly known as National Nursing Home Week, provides an opportunity to recognize the role of skilled nursing facilities in caring for America’s seniors and individuals with disabilities. The 2018 NSNCW theme announced by AHCA, “Celebrating Life’s Stories”, serves as a tribute to life’s most significant events, relationships and experiences that shape the unique perspectives of residents, families, staff, and volunteers in long term and post-acute care. ​Facilities will be encouraged

In honor of National Nurses Week on May 6-12, 2018, Blaire House of Tewksbury celebrated their dedicated nursing staff. The residents wrote thank you notes on heart cutouts for their nursing staff and hung these on all three units of the facility. Pictured are: Ashley Podzycki, RN, resident Dorothy Rogers, a former U.S. Navy nurse, and Jennifer Reid, RN.

Join us on Thursday, May 31 st at 10:00 am for this important one-hour webinar, Massachusetts’ New Pay Equity Law – Where to Begin, What to do Next, and Why it is Important to Include Your Legal Counsel! The general purpose of the Massachusetts Pay Equity Act—scheduled to take effect in July 2018—is to close the gender gap and make it unlawful for employers to pay men and women different rates for "comparable work", a term that was not previously