UPDATE Weekly

NCHCFA would like to thank all facilities that submitted nominations for the 2018 NCHCFA Annual Awards. We had a great response to help recognize front-line staff for their contributions.

NCHCFA is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 Nurse Aide of the Year Awards and the 2018 Riley W. Clapp Outstanding Service Award! Individuals will be recognized in Greensboro, NC during the Annual Convention and Expo.

District I Nurse Aide of the Year
Crystal Cagle – Smoky Mountain Health & Rehabilitation Center

District II Nurse Aide of the Year
Emma Williams – PruittHealth Town Center

District III Nurse Aide of the Year
Pattrina Johnson – Clapp’s Nursing Center

District IV Nurse Aide of the Year
Bertha Townsend – Highland House Rehabilitation & Healthcare

District V Nurse Aide of the Year
Halimah Hasan – Springbrook Nursing & Rehabilitation

2018 Riley W. Clapp Outstanding Service Award
Candace Hardy – Clapp’s Nursing Center

Make plans today to attend the 2018 Association Awards Celebration on Tuesday, January 30th for a very special evening! Brochures outlining specific program details will be available in soon.

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Election of Officers and Members of the Board of Directors will be conducted on Monday, January 29, 2018, during NCHCFA’s Business Meeting. The Business Meeting will be held in conjunction with NCHCFA’s 2018 Annual Convention in Greensboro. All persons seeking an office or a position on the Board of Directors should complete the NCHCFA Board of Directors Application and submit it to the Nominating Committee by November 30, 2017. The NCHCFA Board of Directors Application is new for 2018, and it is being implemented to assist the Nominating Committee in evaluating candidates wishing to run for a seat on the Board of Directors. Please mail or e-mail the completed application to the attention of:

By Mail:
Nominating Committee
North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association
5109 Bur Oak Circle
Raleigh, NC 27612

By E-mail:
Karen Lennon, NCHCFA, KarenL@nchcfa.org

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On October 2, 2017 Change Request 9911 modified the Medicare Remittance Advice (RA) for Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) claims to identify QMB patients and reflect zero cost-sharing liability. This change resulted in unanticipated issues for providers, states, and other secondary payers who are used to seeing Medicare deductible and coinsurance amounts in specific fields on the RA. Beginning December 8, 2017, CMS systems will revert back to the previous display of patient responsibility for QMBs on RAs. Providers may want to hold QMB claims and submit them after December 8th.

Additional information on this issue for providers can be accessed by clicking here.

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These four zip files on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) site contain the interview questions for residents and resident representatives as well as the probes for resident observations and limited record reviews. These files may be accessed at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/GuidanceforLawsAndRegulations/Nursing-Homes.html scrolling down to LTCSP Initial Pool Care Areas. Beginning November 28, 2017, and completed as part of the Initial Pool process on Day 1 of each survey conducted, each member of the survey team will interview approximately eight residents. Containing both questions that are similar to those in the Quality Indicator Survey (QIS) and a significant number of questions that are new, these items will be used in the determination of the final survey sample and the identification topics for further investigation. Many of the new questions are designed to obtain person-centered information about the care provided and to focus on particular high-risk needs of residents.

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Make plans today to attend the NCHCFA Annual Convention and Expo January 28 – 31, 2018. The meeting will be at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons/Joseph S. Koury Convention Center, Greensboro, NC. Brochures outlining specific program details will be available soon. To view the tentative agenda click here.

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Make your overnight reservation today for the NCHCFA Annual Convention and Expo January 28 – 31, 2018. The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons/Joseph S. Koury Convention Center, Greensboro, NC. Call the Sheraton at (800) 242-6556 and identify that you are with “NC Health Care Facilities Association 2018 Convention” to receive the group discounted rate. Brochures outlining specific program details will be available soon.

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The AHCA Quality Award program has three progressive step levels. This seminar will cover the first level, Bronze – Commitment to Quality. Bronze Award applicants begin their quality journey by developing an organizational profile including vision and mission statements, an awareness of their environment and customers’ expectations, and a demonstration of their ability to improve a process.

This session includes a full day of training and consultation on how to complete the AHCA/NCAL Bronze Quality Award Application. This training will decipher the criteria, answer questions, clarify concepts, and guide participants through the process of writing an organizational quality award application. Using interactive technology, participants will leave the workshop with their applications complete or with few areas to fill in.

Objectives:

• Gain knowledge on the AHCA/NCAL Bronze National Quality Award Application Process
• Understand the technical requirements of the application process and recertification policy of the Awards Program
• Review and learn the Bronze Quality Award Criteria
• Develop the framework for a Quality Award Application

It is never too early to begin thinking about and planning your quality award application. This is an opportunity for you and your team to begin your quality journey by working together through the writing process. Get your application ready early and have plenty of time to fine-tune it before the deadline.

For the complete brochure and registration information, click here.

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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 offers Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) the support of trained and experienced mentors to guide their way as they develop into quality health care professionals. Implementing this program can help you reduce your facility’s CNA turnover rate, save money and build a more competent staff. You’ll have happier residents and a higher quality facility as a result!

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

Product #6706
AHCA MEMBERS $59.95

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If you were unable to attend one of our sessions on the Requirements of Participation Phase 2 and the New Survey Process, 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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Door decoration program brings residents’ stories, rooms to life.

McKnight’s Article

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Having red hair isn’t the only thing that makes some redheads unique. They are also more likely to be left handed. Both characteristics come from recessive genes, which like to come in pairs.

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