Living the Mission: A Day for Not for Profit (NFP) Providers from AHCA/NCAL

AHCA/NCAL’s constituency education program for NFP providers will be held on Tuesday, October 18, in Nashville, TN, and is packed with motivational and educational speakers. The keynote speaker, John O’Leary (pictured), was a curious nine-year-old boy. Playing with fire and gasoline, he created a massive explosion in his garage and was burned on 100% of his body. Given less than 1% chance of survival, John is proof of the power of the human spirit. Using his fire story as a backdrop, John will inspire you to take back your life, see the abundant possibility within your professional and personal challenges, and change the world. Participants will also have the opportunity to hear from other top-notch speakers. More information about this day and where to register can be found here. Registration opened on April 6. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact AHCA’s Senior Director of Not for Profit & Constituent Services, Dana Halvorson.      

2016-2017 AHCA Elections and Solicitation for Candidates

The 2016-2017 election cycle has officially opened for AHCA members in good standing interested in running for the AHCA Board of Governors. The AHCA elections are for three officer positions (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary/Treasurer), one Not-for-Profit Representative, one Multifacility Representative and three At-large Representatives. AHCA members interested in running for an AHCA Board position may obtain the necessary candidacy materials online. Applicants must complete and electronically submit the AHCA candidacy materials by close of business on June 6, 2016. Candidates will submit completed materials by sending an e-mail to Christy Sharp.

The AHCA elections will take place during the second Council of States meeting at the AHCA/NCAL 67th Annual Convention & Expo, October 16 - 19 in Nashville, TN. Once the application phase has ended, the AHCA/NCAL Credentialing Committee will hold an in-person meeting to conduct a certification process for each candidate. Once certification occurs, AHCA will announce the slate of candidates to the membership. If you have further questions, contact Christy Sharp.

At Congressional Briefing, We Pack a lot into Two Days

Keynote Speaker Chuck Todd, NBC News Political Director and Host of Meet the Press and MTP Daily, will bring in current events in the context of politics and the upcoming election. 

Join us in Washington, D.C.
May 23-24, 2016
Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel

Get all the details and register today. Congressional Briefing is a unique and critical opportunity to meet and discuss key issues in long term and post-acute care, and then take meaningful action by speaking directly to your Representatives.

Earn 8.5 CEUs
Find out all the latest news from Capitol Hill
Discuss and plan around key talking points for Congressional visits
Meet with your Members of Congress and their staff

The conference registration fee is complimentary to AHCA/NCAL Members and AHCA/NCAL Associate Business Members, and their spouses, and is accepted on a first-come basis. All registrations include continental breakfast, networking lunch, and cocktail reception.

Make Your Hotel Reservations Early
Rooms fill fast in the spring time as D.C. is a popular destination. Make your hotel reservations today and register for Congressional Briefing.

See the complete agenda at cb.ahcancal.org.

Awards Expanding to Trustees

New! Not for Profit Trustee Award

You have now entered the 2016 AHCA/NCAL Awards season! And this year a new category, much in demand, is available called the Trustee Award. The Trustee Award, along with the solid returning standard berarers of the NFP Program of the Year’s two categories of a community benefit or resident services program and the IDDD Hero of the Year Award, makes for several opportunities to honor those within your specialized sphere of skilled nursing care centers. The connection for these disparate health care settings, and core requirement for these awards, is having a “not for profit” sponsorship status. Nomination forms are availabe here on the Awards Program.

Trustees Front and Center

2016 will mark the second year for the Trustee Award, with the inaugural 2015 award being made to Neil Gulsvig for his many years serving as a Trustee at the Good Samaritan Society. The Trustee Award’s presentation will be at the NFP Day ceremonies of the 2016 Nashville convention in October. We need good participation numbers so please nominate a Trustee or someone on the board of directors. Key attributes to look for include a strong commitment to faithfully carrying out the functions of the board, fostering effective board practices, demonstrating a passion about the organization’s mission, and a willingness to devote whatever it takes to attain success. 

2016 Mary K. Ousley Champion of Quality Award

The AHCA Quality Improvement Committee is excited to announce that it is now accepting nominations for the 2016 Mary K. Ousley Champion of Quality Award. This award recognizes an individual who has made significant national contributions to advancing quality performance in long term and/or post-acute care, including either skilled nursing or assisted living settings.

Recipients of the award are not required to be AHCA/NCAL members, but the nomination must be submitted by an individual with an organization that is an AHCA/NCAL member of good standing. In addition, the nomination must demonstrate how the nominee has made a significant impact on a national scale. The recipient will be honored at the 2016 AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention & Expo’s Closing General Session in Nashville, TN, on October 19. Nomination forms must be submitted online by June 9^th.  Please contact Erin Prendergast for questions, or visit the Champion of Quality award page for more information.

NFP Grassroots Advocacy

Steven Chies, AHCA’s NFP Council Chair, encourages AHCA’s NFP providers to participate in our grassroots advocacy efforts in 2016.  AHCA would like to help you get facility tours and in-district meetings set up over future recess days.  Please provide your name, facility address, and email address and we will craft the invite and send it to you to send to the Congressional office.  The four brief steps for a successful facility tour visit can be found here.  Please feel free to contact Matthew Smyth and Dana Halvorson who can help you with all of the logistics.

AHCA’s NFP Council member, Van Moore (pictured to the right), meets with Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR-2, pictured on the left) at the Oregon Veterans’ Home in The Dalles.  Van discussed with the Congressman issues impacting AHCA/NCAL members, including the observation stays issue. 

NFPs Engaging in the Political Process

For more information on how NFPs can engage in the political process, please review this webinar and handout from Wiley Rein, LLP.  Both documents will give members of 501(c) 3 tax exempt organizations an overview of what they can and cannot do in regards to lobbying and political activity.  For issue briefs, talking points and more, visit AHCA’s advocacy page.

U.S. Congressional Calendars

As you are planning your visits with members of Congress and their staff in Washington, D.C., or in your district, the Congressional calendars will be of assistance to you.  The U.S. House of Representatives calendar for the 114^th Congress, second session, can be found here.  The U.S. Senate schedule for 2016 can be found here. The dates in blue reference the times the U.S. Senate is in session.  The red dates represent when the U.S. Senate is in recess.

AHCA/NCAL Advocacy App

If you haven’t already heard about it, then we wanted to alert you to a great app that allows you to keep abreast of AHCA advocacy efforts.  Among other things, it provides important talking points, issue briefs and features that allow you to take action.  It will be useful not only to you, but serves as a great way for providers to weigh in.  You can get the app by clicking on the appropriate black box below.

 

Download our advocacy app!

   

AHCA’s State of the States Clearinghouse

AHCA members have access to key Medicaid and Medicare information through the State of the States Clearinghouse.  The AHCA State of the States Clearinghouse is a one stop shop for key Medicaid and Medicare information impacting the long term care profession.   

This resource provides valuable data, including:

• Overview of the demographic landscape;
• State-specific nursing center occupancy and ownership breakouts; 
• Certificate of Need requirements for nursing centers and state licensure requirements; 
• State data on the cost of care for long term services and supports;  
• State data on the total number of Medicare enrollees; 
• Data on state Medicare Advantage plan enrollees and comparisons to the national average; 
• State and national Medicaid expenditure data;
• State Medicaid rates, costs and shortfalls;
• And other significant state-specific data related to payment structure, managed long term services and home and community based services coverage.

AHCA will continue to provide the most up-to-date information through the Clearinghouse and share new data/resources as they become available.  Also be sure to visit the AHCA Medicaid Page to learn more about the program and to access additional AHCA members-only Medicaid resources.

We’ve Got You Covered! AHCA/NCAL Insurance Solutions Website

The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) now offers a variety of comprehensive insurance programs to meet your business needs. Backed by the strength of our membership, AHCA/NCAL Insurance Solutions programs are designed with exclusive member savings and discounts for both the fully-insured or self-insured members.

The program offers health insurance options, group and voluntary benefit packages, an aggressive Stop-Loss insurance program as well as cloud based HR platforms that will help members achieve savings and greater efficiencies on HR services within your company, while also tracking and reporting on key Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements.  For more information, please contact AHCA’s Dave Kyllo at dkyllo@AHCA.org and visit the AHCA/NCAL Insurance Solutions website.  

Articles and Resources of Interest

• 2015 Medicaid Shortfall Report - ahcancal.org  
• Older Americans Month 2016 – acl.gov
• Older Americans Month Resources – acl.gov
• Fibromyalgia in Gulf War Veterans – va.gov
• Participating in Alzheimer's Research: For Yourself and Future Generations – nia.nih.gov
• Flu and You – cdc.gov
• Are People With Rosacea at Higher Risk for Alzheimer's? – healthfinder.gov
• Type 2 Diabetes May Damage Hearing, Study Finds – healthfinder.gov
• Trouble With Sense of Direction May Be Linked to Early Alzheimer's: Study – healthfinder.gov
• Americans' Longer Life = Poorer Health – healthfinder.gov
• HIV Patients Now Living Long Enough to Develop Alzheimer's – healthfinder.gov

Legislative and Agency Corner

• AHCA Applauds Senator Jeff Flake for Introducing the Willing Workers and Willing Employers Act – ahcancal.org
• Rural Skilled Nursing Centers Call for Greater Access to Technology – ahcancal.org
• Rural Health Care Access Legislation Approved out of Full House Committee – longtermcareleader.com
• President Obama Signs the Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act – longtermcareleader.com
• Summer Signals Start of Congressional Briefing, Facility Tours – longtermcareleader.com

Webinars of Interest

Stay informed and tune in to AHCA/NCAL-hosted pre-recorded and live webinars on a number of topics impacting the long term care profession.  On May 18, 2016, from 2 – 3pm EDT, AHCA/NCAL will host a webinar entitled, “Nutrition and Person-Centered Care for Successful Quality Outcomes.”  You can learn more and register here. 

AHCA/NCAL Learning Management Website

AHCA/NCAL has recently launched a comprehensive online Learning Management System to support the training needs of its members. The website, known as ahcancalED, contains a wealth of information including educational programs, webinars, instructional videos, training courses, and other tools. It is available free to AHCA/NCAL members.

"We created ahcancalED for our members who do not have the time or budget to develop the newest in-service training," said Dr. David Gifford, AHCA/NCAL Senior Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs. "Our objective also was to provide the best and latest educational tools, especially as CMS increases its regulatory requirements about staff training and competency in a number of areas. ahcancalED is designed to help individuals in our profession do a better job of caring for patients and residents and advance in their careers."

The information on ahcancalED is structured to make the online learning experience engaging, meaningful, and interactive for users. The fresh graphics and clearly defined sections within the site make it easy for users to navigate and find the information they need. The site also allows users to track their own learning progress.

Teams of experts from around the country working with AHCA/NCAL staff helped to create the content. "We will constantly be adding new programs and materials so that we can keep the site fresh and dynamic," said Gifford. "We'll continue to look for new ways the site can grow and serve our members. It's a great value-added benefit and a tangible example of our commitment to enhancing quality."

ahcancalED can be accessed at https://educate.ahcancal.org/. Suggestions for content or other site enhancements can be submitted to the ahcancalED team at educate@ahca.org. AHCA/NCAL welcomes ideas that will help improve quality and strengthen the knowledge, skills and attitudes of staff in the long term and post-acute care community.

From the Blog of Josh Linkner

Noted on the Josh Linkner blog, “To Josh Linkner, creativity and innovation are the lifeblood of all human progress. As such, he’s spent his career harnessing the power of creative disruption.  His journey has been non-traditional at every step. As the founder and CEO of four tech companies, Josh built his businesses from a blank page into a combined value of over $200 million. As a hyper-growth CEO of over 20 years, he’s used innovative approaches to topple competitors, fight through adversity, and achieve at the highest levels.”  The bio section of Linkner’s blog goes on to include that, “Josh is an internationally-recognized thought leader and top-rated keynote speaker on innovation, creativity, reinvention, and hyper-growth leadership. His keynotes are focused on not only inspiring audiences, but also sharing actionable strategies to drive meaningful outcomes.”  Read some of Linkner’s blogs below.  In addition, you can view some of his keynote speaking addresses here. 

• Making a Mogul – The Four Differences Between Jay Z and DJ Khaled
• Could THIS Be The Secret To Happiness?
• How Quest Nutrition Crafted a $1 Billion Corporate Culture

National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities

The National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD) holds a monthly call or webinar concerning topics of interest to those who work in the field of aging and disability.  One of the past calls focused on resources for people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias and their caregivers.  Information about future calls, and audio recording of previous ones, can be found here.

Upcoming 2016 Events

• National Nursing Home Week – May 8 – 14
• Committee on Healthcare Financing Annual Meeting – June 7, 2016
• AHCA/NCAL 67^th Annual Convention & Expo – October 16 – 19, 2016
• A Day for Not for Profit Providers at the AHCA/NCAL Convention – October 18, 2016
• 26th Alzheimer Europe Conference – October 31 – November 2, 2016

2016 Health Care Observances

The 2016 AHCA/NCAL Health Care Observances Calendar can be found here.  June 2016 marks, among other observances, Cataract Awareness Month, Migraine & Headache Awareness Month, and National Safety Month.