|
|
|
|
Important Update
HOPE will be launching our new website Monday, April 11, 2016! We will still be at the same URL (http://hoosierownersandproviders.org/).
Please keep in mind that links within our newsletters will no longer be functioning after the launch of the new site, so be sure to read the newsletter by then!
|
|
|
Indiana News
Indiana General Assembly Passes Medical Malpractice Legislation
SB 28, the medical malpractice bill, increases the cap on damages from 1.25 million to 1.8 million by 2019. The provider’s share of damages was increased from $250,000 to $500,000 by 2019. Earlier proposals would have increased the threshold for cases to go to the medical review panel. However, the threshold remains unchanged and any case seeking damages of more than $15,000 must go to a medical review panel. This threshold issue was the focus of lobbying on the bill. Go here for the final version of the bill.
FSSA Posts Updated Draft Waiver Transition Plan for Public Comment
FSSA just posted the most recent draft of the state transition plan for Medicaid Waiver home and community based settings. This is the state’s plan to comply with CMS rules finalized in 2014 to ensure that individuals receive Medicaid HCBS in settings that are integrated and that support full access to the greater community. The big issues for providers include whether Waiver assisted living can be connected to nursing homes and whether secured memory care units or secured adult day care will be allowed. The draft provides some flexibility on these issues. The Division of Aging shared some of their conversations with CMS about the HCBS rule and its impact on residents receiving Medicaid waiver in a secure memory unit. The Division reports CMS is commenting favorably about Washington’s dementia care restricted
egress rules. Click here for the draft.
Core MMIS Update
Indiana Medicaid provided an update to the Indiana Medicaid Advisory Committee about the progress in changing the claims payment system from the current system to “Core MMIS”. The agency published a bulletin on November 24, 2015 announcing a go live date in early 2016, but that has been postponed after many complaints and concerns with the claims processing black-out dates listed in the bulletin.
Summary of Indiana Residential Survey Tag Report
The most frequently cited residential tags for February 2016 are shown here.
|
|
|
Save the Date - HFA/RCA Course
HOPE’s Health Facility (HFA) and Residential Care Facility (RCA) Administrator training course is a state approved, specialized course of instruction in long term healthcare administration. Students successfully completing the course will meet the educational requirements for licensure as a Health Facility or Residential Care Facility Administrator.
Dates: June 6, 2016 to July 15, 2016. With the exception of July 4, the course will be 8 hours per day, Monday through Friday.
Location: 9480 Priority Way West Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46240.
Faculty: Rebecca Bartle, MSN, RN, HFA and other carefully selected seasoned, long term care professionals.
Cost: RCA tuition is $2,500. HFA tuition is $3,500.
For more information, please contact Terry Miller at 812-470-8256 or tmiller@hoosierownersandproviders.org
|
|
|
Conference Corner
You Are Invited to the 2016 Spring Conference!
At this year’s Spring Conference on May 2-3, 2016, you’ll have the opportunity to learn how to Be the Difference by choosing from over 30 sessions. But we need your help to make the Spring Conference complete - We want to hear your “being the difference”
stories. Share with us how are you, your coworkers or your residents being the difference so we can celebrate the difference our members are making in the aging services field in Indiana. Not sure what we mean? Tell us about the time your coworker made blankets for the homeless. Tell us about the resident you have who walks around and tells everyone good morning each day. Tell us about how you donate your time after work to help paint a residents nails. Being the difference can come in many forms. Click here to tell us the way you or someone you work with is being the difference, and we will showcase your stories at the spring conference!
We also encourage you to check out our trade show and learn how our associate members are making a difference in their space, and in turn, our space. Equally as important, take a moment to thank our sponsors, whose generous support keep your registration costs affordable. Click here
for a printable registration form or register online today!
Only 20 Booths Left at Spring Trade Show
Your top Indiana customers will be at the 2016 Spring Conference & Trade Show, so make the most cost-effective marketing move of 2016 & EXHIBIT! Don’t miss your chance to meet with the decision makers in long term health care. Over 450 Aging Services providers are expected, representing: Hoosier Owners and Providers for the Elderly (HOPE), LeadingAge Indiana, and Indiana Assisted Living Association (INALA). Booth assignments will be made on a "first come-first served" basis. Last year the Hall sold-out, so be sure and send in your application as soon as possible. Click here
to see the latest floorplan and here for more information.
|
|
|
National News
Tax Cuts in Medicaid Bill Would Hurt State’s Ability to Serve Older Adults in Need
A bill moving through the U.S. House of Representatives would reduce the federal deficit by cutting Medicaid provider taxes, hindering the state’s ability to serve older adults in need. The Common Sense Savings Act of 2016 would reduce provider assessments to five and a half percent from the current six percent cap. This reduction may sound familiar as a similar cut was passed as part of the Spending Reduction Act of 2012.
March 2016 MedPAC Summary
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) met March 3-4. Of particular interest to members were discussions on upcoming reports or chapters related to a unified payment system for post-acute care, telehealth services, and the role of competitive pricing in setting beneficiary premiums for both fee-for-service Medicare and Medicare Advantage programs. All of the presentations are available and transcripts are expected soon. For more details, click here.
Grassley Seeks Response from Justice Department on Social Media Exploitation of Nursing Home Residents
Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is asking the Justice Department to weigh in on the newly emerging problem of the exploitation of nursing home residents on social media. In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Grassley noted that in multiple cases around the country, nursing home workers have been caught taking photos and videos of residents in vulnerable positions and posting them on social media outlets such as Snapchat.
Long Term Care Financing
A report from the Long-Term Care Financing Collaborative is also proposing significant changes in the way that long-term care is financed and delivered. The report, "A Consensus Framework for Long-Term Care Financing Reform," proposes clear private and public roles for long-term care financing; a new universal catastrophic long-term care insurance program that would shift today's welfare-based system to an insurance model; redefining Medicaid LTSS to empower greater autonomy and choice in services and settings; encouraging private long-term care insurance initiatives to lower cost and increase enrollment and increasing retirement savings and improving public education on long-term care costs and needs.
Use of Staffing Agencies: Joint Employer Issue
On January 20, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued an Administrator's Interpretation broadening the circumstances under which employers could be found to be joint employers. For members, the issue of joint employment arises primarily in the use of nurse staffing agencies. For more information, click here.
CDC Report Tracks Providers and Users of Long Term Care
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that provides insights into characteristics of residents in the five sectors of senior living. The report, Long Term Care Providers and Services Users in the United States: Data from the National Study of Long Term Care Providers, 2013-14, provides an overview of the types of services required by seniors in assisted living, adult day centers, home health agencies, hospices and nursing homes. The CDC National Center for Health Statistics plans to conduct this study every two years to monitor national and state trends.
Data Submission for AHRQ Nursing Home Survey
Nursing homes that have administered AHRQ’s Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture can submit their data to the Comparative Database April 1-21. The results of this database will be compiled into the Nursing Home Comparative Database Report. Average scores and percentiles on the survey items and composites will be included to help nursing homes assess their own results in order to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. Nursing homes who have not previously administered the survey may still do so. The survey, toolkit materials and general data submission information are available here. If you have any questions, call 888-324-9790 or email:
DatabasesOnSafetyCulture@westat.com.
|
|
|
CMS News
New Survey and Certification Memo on Payroll-Based Journal Requirements
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Survey and Certification Memo released a Survey and Certification Memorandum on Friday, March 18: Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) - Implementation of required electronic submission of Staffing Data for Long Term Care (LTC) Facilities. Click here for a copy of the memo.
Effective Date for New Survey and Certification Rules Anticipated in September
The CMS regulatory agenda website indicates that their goal for implementing their new nursing home regulations, which were proposed last July, is September 2016. This is not a certainty, although some political observers have noted that the number of new regulations in the last year of a presidential administration tends to increase.
CMS Open Door Call – Six New Quality Measures Announced
In CMS’ Open Door call March 3, they announced they will be adding six new quality measures to Nursing Home Compare. Here is a summary of the call.
CMS Revalidation Alert
The Affordable Care Act established a requirement for all enrolled providers/suppliers to revalidate their Medicare enrollment information under new enrollment screening criteria. CMS recently released a Medicare Learning Network Matters alert with instructions about this process that can be found here.
Medicaid Clarifies Provider Enrollment Revalidation Requirements
Pursuant to federal law, all providers enrolled with the Indiana Health Coverage Programs (IHCP) before January 1, 2012, must revalidate their provider enrollments by March 26, 2016. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has directed states to dis-enroll any provider who fails to revalidate. Medicaid has received questions from providers regarding various aspects of the revalidation process. To see their responses, click here.
|
|
|
Nurse's Notes
CMS Adds New Claims-based and MDS-based QMs
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will begin publicly reporting six new quality measures (QMs) – four short-stay measures (three claims-based and one MDS-based) and two MDS-based long-stay QMs – on Nursing Home Compare. In July, five of those six new QMs will begin to be included in the Five Star Quality Rating System until they are fully incorporated effective in January 2017, said agency officials during the March 3 Skilled Nursing Facility/Long –term Care Open Door Forum.
|
|
|
Resources
Film Screening: Dining with Friends
There is a new educational film which describes an innovative person-centered dining approach designed for people with dementia.
AHRQ Grant Results in Dementia Caregiver Care Planning Tool
In 2012, the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) funded a grant called "The Dementia Caregiver Care Planning Tool." This project aimed to design and test a person-centered, online care planning tool to provide individualized support recommendations to families caring for relatives with memory loss. The final version has been released, and is now titled "Care to Plan." It is free and available to the public. You can access Care to Plan directly via http://www.mcicc-connect.org/index.php
(it is also available on http://www.caretoplan.com; go to "Plan" on the lower, central area of the page and click on "Questionnaire").
Next Steps Toolkit for Providers
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Next Steps Toolkit to help providers track and improve ICD-10 progress.
New Action Planning Tool for the AHRQ Safety Culture Surveys
A new Action Planning Tool for the AHRQ Surveys on Patient Safety Culture is now available. After an organization assesses its patient safety culture, this tool will help determine steps needed for making improvements. It provides step-by-step guidance to help develop an action plan to improve patient safety culture.
|
|
|
Value Based Purchasing
Prepare for Medicare Value-Based Purchasing with Improved Care Transitions
Improving transitions of care between the hospital and post-acute care settings is critical to improve quality for the individual and to reduce readmissions. Reducing all-cause hospital readmissions is an area of important concern for all nursing home providers. Provisions of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 put into place a Medicare value-based purchasing program ) for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).
This law required the Secretary of HHS to specify an all-cause SNF-to-hospital 30-day readmission measure by 2015, and begin the incentive payments on October 1, 2018. Under the value-based purchasing initiative, CMS will withhold two percent of SNF Medicare payments, starting October 1, 2018, and will redistribute 50-70 percent of the withheld payments based on the incentive distribution. Beginning October 1, 2017, public reporting of the all-cause SNF 30-day hospital readmission measures will be included in Nursing Home Compare.
New Medicare Mapping Tool Allows County Based Readmission Trend Analysis
The “Mapping Medicare Disparities” tool allows users to break down data by state or county, beneficiaries' demographics, health conditions, and Medicare measures. The tool includes data from CMS enrollment and claims data for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Two Articles on Value Based Purchasing
Recently we were provided with two excellent articles on Value Based Purchasing. The first is a primer from the Kaiser Family Foundation that describes the framework and concepts of three payment models CMS is currently testing and implementing within traditional Medicare—medical homes, ACOs, and bundled payments. It is available here.
The second is a Health Affairs blog post that provides a nice contextual piece about the Accountable Health Communities demonstration established by CMS' Innovation Center. It is available at here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
