Long Term and Post-Acute Care Profession Announces New Quality Goals

The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) recently announced new goals as part of its multi-year initiative to further improve quality in long term and post-acute care.  At its National Quality Summit in New Orleans this month, the Association challenged both skilled nursing and assisted living providers to meet measurable targets in four areas, respectively, by March 2021.  The nationwide effort builds on the progress achieved by the profession over the last six years.  The full article on the new quality goals can be found here. 

The AHCA Quality Initiative 2018-2021: What’s New & What it Means for You for NFP

AHCA has announced new three-year goals as part of its nationwide, multi-year initiative to further improve quality in long term and post-acute care centers.  Since the launch of the Initiative in 2012, members have been challenged to meet measurable targets in key areas such as hospitalizations and antipsychotic usage. While significant improvements have been made, more must be done.  The next phase of the effort continues to challenge providers to achieve quantitative results in four areas by March 2021.  This webinar will provide an overview of progress to date, outline the new goal areas and review strategies and resources to help members achieve the Quality Initiative goals.  You can register here for this webinar event. 

Get Ready for New Medicare Beneficiary Cards Starting April

Beginning in April, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be mailing all Medicare beneficiaries new Medicare cards that remove their social security numbers.  The change is intended to prevent fraud and identity theft.  CMS will be mailing the new cards in waves between April and June 2018, with more details on the timing here.  CMS has created an informational page for providers explaining what they need to do to get ready.

OIG Releases Report on Incident Reporting for Group Home Settings

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG), Administration for Community Living, and Office for Civil Rights released a January 2018 joint report entitled, Ensuring Beneficiary Health and Safety in Group Homes Through State Implementation of Comprehensive Compliance Oversight.  The objective of OIG for the report was to determine if group homes complied with Federal and State requirements for reporting, recording, and detecting critical incidents in group homes.  Work was done in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine.  According to the report, “OIG found serious lapses in basic health and safety practices in group homes.”  OIG will continue their audit work in this area in additional States.  You can read the findings and conclusions of the full report here.     

NFP Grassroots Advocacy – Facility Visits over Recess

Gary Kelso, AHCA’s NFP Council Chair, encourages AHCA’s NFP providers to participate in our grassroots advocacy efforts in 2018.  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. 

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 115^th Congress, second session, can be found here.  The U.S. Senate schedule for 2018 can be found here​.

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) 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

• New CoreQ Website – longtermcareleader.com
• Payroll Based Journal Updates – longtermcareleader.com
• Get Ready for New Medicare Beneficiary Cards Starting April – longtermcareleader.com
• Use Gero Nurse Prep to Increase Gerontological Nursing Competency – longtermcareleader.com
• Make Your Community Vibrant with Music from Mood Media – longtermcareleader.com
• Do You Know About the Emergency Preparedness Program Plan That Crosswalks to CMS’ Guidelines? – longtermcareleader.com
• Veterans: Here's how to Avoid Getting the Flu – va.gov
• Healthy Eating and Alzheimer's Disease – nia.nih.gov
• Providing Culturally Competent Care: Meeting the LTSS Needs of Dually Eligible Beneficiaries – resourcesforintegratedcare.com
• 2018 National Skilled Nursing Care Week Planning Guide & Product Catalog Now Available! – longtermcareleader.com

Legislative and Agency Corner

• AHCA Statement on MedPAC Report to Congress – ahcancal.org
• AHCA Statement on Senate Budget Proposal – ahcancal.org
• AHCA Responds to Human Rights Watch Report – ahcancal.org
• New NIH consortium award to enhance clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias – nih.gov
• Updated OIG Work Plan – longtermcareleader.com
• ID/DD Providers Meet in Washington, Head to Capitol Hill – longtermcareleader.com
• CMS Updates Medicare Policy Manuals Impacting SNFs – longtermcareleader.com

Webinars of Interest

Stay informed and tune in to ahcancalED for several pre-recorded and live webinars on topics impacting the long-term care profession. Webinars that might be of interest are noted below.  

• All member webinar on CMS’ Resident Classification System Version 1 – An Overview and Preliminary Action Steps
• The NCAL Quality Initiative 2018-2021
• The AHCA Quality Initiative 2018-2021: What’s New & What it Means for You
• The AHCA Quality Initiative 2018-2021: What’s New & What it Means for You for NFP
• LTC Trend Tracker℠ 101
• How to Utilize LTC Trend Tracker℠ Data

AHCA/NCAL Learning Management Website

AHCA/NCAL has 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.

• The Mark of a Professional
• The 3 Big Lessons from the Collapse of Toys ‘R’ Us
• Signs of Creativity
• Yearning, Learning, and Earning
• The Power of Funerals
• Columbo’s Curiosity

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 2018 Events

• 2018 National Skilled Nursing Care Week – May 13-19, 2018  
• AHCA/NCAL Congressional Briefing (Washington, D.C.) – June 4-5, 2018
• AHCA/NCAL 69th Annual Convention and Exposition (San Diego, CA) – October 7-10, 2018  

2018 Health Care Observances

April 2018 marks, among other observances, National Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Stress Awareness Month, and National Cancer Control Month.  The 2018 Healthcare Observances Calendar can be found here.