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Issue 11, November 1, 2019

• Tips for SNFs: Implementing a comprehensive QAPI program in your SNF

  Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) programs are essential for creating a safe...

• Coding for SNFs: What PDPM means for coding in SNFs

  For the first time since ICD-10 coding implementation in October 2015, the application of it in...

• Updates for SNFs: Key takeaways from the 2020 final payment rule

  CMS issued its final rule, Fiscal Year 2020 Payment and Policy changes for Medicare Skilled Nursing...

Issue 10, October 25, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Tips for SNFs: Environmental safety: Falls prevention

  SNFs know the danger well: An impatient resident gets up for the bathroom after buzzing for help...

• Tip and tool: Implementing an EHR

  Unlike acute care, postacute facilities have always strug-gled to implement electronic health...

• Tips for SNFs: Appointing an infection preventionist in your SNF

  Infection is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among nursing home residents in the...

Issue 9, September 27, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• How CMS-3347-P changes will affect SNFs

  CMS announced proposed changes to the Medicare long-term care requirements that would reform...

• PDPM Preparedness: Enhance your pre-admission process prior to PDPM with these 7 tips

  The pre-admission process will take on an entirely new level of importance once Patient-Driven...

• Quality of care: Resident activities in SNFs

  The following tips and advice are from HCPro’s best-selling guide, The Big Book of Resident...

• Tip and tool: Ethics and compliance: Sample grievance form

  Nursing facilities are required to implement a program with written compliance and ethics...

Issue 8, August 30, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• CMS announces a new finalized arbitration rule, proposes another that would postpone Phase 3

  CMS has announced July 17 two new rules that, according to a CMS press release, will place more...

• Be prepared for all hazards: Training for the top issues

  As hurricanes brew in the southeast U.S. and winter looms in the northern states, it’s a...

• Compliance: PBJ reveals potential staffing issues among SNFs

  Understaffing has become a major issue in SNFs. A study published in the July issue of Health...

• Five-Star Report:: What to do with your benchmark results

  Facilities should use the Five-Star Quality Rating report and NHC as sources for benchmarking and...

Issue 7, July 26, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• In long-term care credentialing, be rigorous yet realistic

  Increasingly, mergers and acquisitions are making strange bedfellows of acute, ambulatory, and...

• Fix the health of your work environment to retain nurses

  What do nurses cite as the most common reason for leav-ing their jobs? It's the work environment...

• MDS care plan: Diabetes

  Computerized care plans, now used almost universally, are geared to address and satisfy regulatory...

• Your PDPM questions, answered

  Q: From a payer standpoint, when do we expect to see a pricer/grouper? A: The FY 2019 PDPM...

Issue 6, June 28, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• CMS updates Appendix Q, Guidance on Immediate Jeopardy

  In early March, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updated Appendix Q, Guidance...

• Five models for paying your therapy contractor under PDPM

  October 1 will be here before we know it.  And with that comes Medicare’s new Patient...

• Competency-based care: How to use facility assessment findings

  You can determine which competencies should be evalu-ated each year in a variety of ways. The...

• Tools for triple-check to ensure a solid SNF billing system

  Developing a proactive internal approach to identifying and correcting billing issues before they...

Issue 5, May 31, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Proposed SNF payment rule for FY2020: What you need to know

  During a Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF)/Long Term Care Open Door Forum (ODF) held Tuesday, April...

• EPA's final rule on pharmaceutical waste material effective August 21

  The EPA published its final rule, Management Standards for Hazardous Pharmaceuticals, earlier this...

• "Live Soulfully" is the 2019 theme for National Skilled Nurse Care Week

  National Skilled Nursing Care Week (NSNCW) is May 12-18, 2019, and its theme is “Live...

• PBJ reporting and 5-star staffing

  The 5-Star Rating System’s staffing domain has undergone many changes over the last year...

Issue 4, April 26, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Q & A: Identifying and preventing UTIs in Long-Term Care

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• Putting the person in the care plan

  Person-centered care is an idealistic approach to resident care that became common around 1985. It...

• Changes to therapy reporting and reimbursement that affect billers

  Three changes happened recently for therapists that billers should know about: Medicare’s...

• How VBP, QRP, and Five-Star will be affected by PDPM

  With the recent Five-Star Rating System Changes released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...

Issue 3, March 29, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Three things you can do to ensure you're compliant with new drug regimen review requirement

  Because of the potential for serious complications caused by medication errors, including death...

• Best practices for Section GG

  The intent of the Minimum Data Set’s (MDS) Section GG, Functional Abilities and Goals, is to...

• TKA removed from Medicare IPO list: Implications for SNFs

  In the final 2018 outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) rule released by CMS, total knee...

• Goal writing: Back to basics

  Documenting medical necessity has become a big topic over the last several years and there has been...

Issue 2, February 22, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Checks and balances: The RAC's role in identifying over- and under-payments

  The Recovery Audit Program’s mission is to identify and correct Medicare improper pay-ments...

• Compliance: Don't let your HIPAA policies and procedures go stale

  For HIPAA covered entities (CE) that maintain poor policies and procedures related to HIPAA...

• Tip and tool: Dealing with the difficult family

  One of the greatest challenges in almost every long-term care facility is how to deal with...

• Navigating tax reform in 2019

  After speaking with a few subject matter experts about the new tax laws, Billing Alert for...

Issue 1, January 11, 2019 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Four CASPER reports you should be paying attention to

  The Certification and Survey Provider Enhance-ment Reports (CASPER) quality measures (QM) reports...

• Payment reform: Words on the street: Acronyms of PDPM

  When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) new Patient Driven Payment...

• The survey mindset: Stay prepared and know what to expect

  The survey is not usually just a desultory examination of the facility. The survey team usually...

• PPS Alert for Long-Term Care 2018 index

  PPS Alert for Long-Term Care 2018 index