MDS 3.0 Delayed Until 10-01-2010

Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) formally announced the implementation of MDS 3.0 will be delayed for a full year. 

The concern over numerous unresolved issues of implementation would have made the October 1, 2009 date impossible.

As CMS releases new information on MDS 3.0 it will be shared with members.  KHCA will have MDS 2.0 training in early summer.  When the dates are confirmed it will be posted on www.khca.org .

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  Association News
State Budget Update

This week the Kansas Department on Aging Budget for FY2010 was passed out of House Appropriations.

The committee agreed to review the nursing home rebasing issue (reimbursement) during the omnibus budget negotiations.  What this means is towards the end of the regular session when the revenues are more clearly defined, the fiscal year 2010 budget will be reviewed.  KHCA has asked the committee to consider using the federal stimulus medicaid dollars to fund the nursing home reimbursements. 

Click to review testimony given to the House Sub-Committee for KDOA budget.  If you have the opportunity to thank any of the subcommittee members while they are in their home districts please let them know how much we appreciate their preservation of dollars to care for the frail elders of Kansas.

House Subcommittee members--

Rep. Tom Hawk
Rep. David Crum
Rep. Barbara Ballard
Rep. Marc Rhoades
Rep. Peggy Mast--Chairperson
Rep. Mike Kiegerl
Rep. Forrest Knox

Based on the budget deficit, even with the federal stimulus funding, Kansas Health Care Association figures Kansas will be faced cuts to social services. With help, we can minimize the impact on provider payment reductions.  We must make our case to the legislators.

If Legislators are holding town hall meetings or coffees on their weekends at home, try to attend and tell your story to the decision makers.  If you have not met with your local legislators, now is a good time.  Invite them to your home for a visit and meet with them before too many decisions are made on the upcoming budgets.  Call KHCA and we will be happy to arrange visits if you would like.

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  2009 NEW KHCA/KCAL Members
Welcome!

We would like to welcome the following new members-

Chanute Healthcare Center
Westwood Manor- Topeka
Hillside Village- DeSoto
Peggy Kelly House- Topeka
Park Meadows Senior Living- Overland Park

Thank you all so much for your support.

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  KHCA/KCAL Education Calendar

The KHCA education committee has been very busy planning education for 2009.  Please click here for the most current education calendar.  We must remind you this is just a draft calendar so it is subject to change please consult www.khca.org for the most current education events.

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  Nursing Home Week

National Nursing Home Week® May 10-16: Only 10 Weeks Away!

Baseball season will soon be here—and so will National Nursing Home Week®! Why not combine the two with a NNHW baseball cap? In attractive dark green with the NNHW slogan, “Nurturing a Love that Lasts” embroidered on the front. Don’t forget a T-shirt to go with the baseball cap…or perhaps a wrist band that glows green in the dark? We have a range of products to help you celebrate in style at affordable prices. Visit www.nnhw.org for more information about the week, this year’s theme, and a look at our entire range of products. To order any of our NNHW products, call 800-321-0343 or order online. 

Please support event sponsor Beyond this Day, a friend of long term care that produces a personalized remembrance for a nursing home to give to families coping with the loss of a loved one.

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  March 2009 Edition of LTC Survey Coming Soon!

Karla at the KHCA office will be ordering these books when they are available.  Please let her know if you would like to have one ordered.  kwerth@khca.org or call 785-267-6003.

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  OSHA Update Webinar--March 11, 2009

Bradford Hammock of Jackson Lewis, LLP will lead an OSHA Update webinar next Wednesday, March 11 at 2pm ET. This webinar will give an overview of changes in the OSHA Field Operations Manual and how they may affect long term care facilities, as well as summarize expected OSHA issues, including the effect of unions, under the new democratic administration. To sign up for the webinar, click here.

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  Grant Information
New Federal HIT Grant And Loan Information Available After March 9

The recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides significant funding for health information technology, including grants to states for Health Information Technology (HIT) promotion and support, grants to support loan funds for providers for purchase of certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs), HIT regional extension centers and grants to community health centers for operational, capital and HIT needs.  It further provides Medicare and Medicaid incentives to health professionals and hospitals to encourage early adoption and use of interoperable electronic health records.  Finally, it adds $2.5 billion in funding for broadband to the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants program and provides $4.7 billion for a new Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to develop and expand broadband for unserved and underserved areas.

Here is the latest information from the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living on how long-term care may access the grants and loans in support of our profession’s HIT efforts.

Note that long-term care (LTC) is not eligible for most of the $19 billion in HIT monies, as the primary recipients will be physicians and hospitals.  However $2 billion will be provided to states in the near future to set up revolving loan funds to which LTC providers (SNFs, NFs, ALs, etc.) may apply.  These low interest loans may be used for the following purposes:  purchase Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology; enhance the utilization of such technology; train personnel; and improve the secure electronic exchange of health information.  The other funding opportunity for LTC will be grants through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the adoption of EHRs.

Beginning the week of March 9th, information on these grants and loans will begin to appear on www.grants.gov.  However, between now and then, there are some activities you should consider doing if you want to apply for these HIT dollars.  Specifically, facilities and companies interested in submitting a federal grant application, especially those who have not done so in the past, should visit www.grants.gov and complete the process for creating a facility or company profile, during which you will be assigned a unique applicant number.  Give some thought to how these dollars might best be utilized by your company, facility, or in the broader context of your specific health care community.  The latter would necessitate your reaching out to your health care partners and working together to apply, which may be advantageous.

Closer to the end of March, additional details on the low interest loan program will be made available through www.grants.gov.  You should continue to check this site.  We will also work with our state Department of Health, the agency that will likely be processing these grant and loan programs in Minnesota.

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  Five-Star Rating-Check Your Data Before It Is Released

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently released instructions that nursing facilities can use to access their Five-Star rating “preview” information.  The instructions are as follows:

1. Go to your Quality Improvement Evaluation System (QIES) mailbox (available through your electronic connection to the State servers for submission of Minimum Data Set data).
2. Select the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) reporting link located at the bottom of the Login page.
3. Once in the CASPER Reporting system, click on the 'Folders' button.
4. Access the Five Star Report in your 'st LTC facid' folder, where 'st' is the 2-digit postal code of the state in which your facility is located and 'facid' is the state assigned facility identifier of your facility.

If providers have questions about the data that is posted, they should contact the CMS Five-Star provider hotline at 1-800-839-9290.

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  Webinar- MY INNERVIEW

If your home is not already using My Innerview as your satisfaction survey, please consider the following webinar.

Is a satisfied staffer a committed staffer? "Not necessarily" according to My InnerView (MIV), AHCA's partner in the Satisfaction Assessment Initiative (SAI). But MIV has demonstrated that employee satisfaction and commitment drive customer satisfaction so it might be worth a provider's time to begin to sort out employee "satisfaction" and "commitment." When it comes to the "customer" it pays to do the right thing and monitoring the effectiveness of your workforce is a must in the age of 5-Star and the financial instability. Join MIV for a free Webinar that will challenge your thinking about your workforce. The program will be given twice, at 2:00 PM CT on Thursday, March 12 and 10:30 AM CT, Friday, March 13. Click here for pre registration. 

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  CMS-Medicare Updates

Revised Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Spell of Illness Quick Reference Chart

The revised Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Spell of Illness Quick Reference Chart (January 2009), which provides Medicare claims processing information related to SNF spells of illness, is now available in downloadable format from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Medicare Learning Network at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/SNFSpellIllnesschrt.pdf .

“Did you know that your local Medicare contractor (carrier, fiscal intermediary, or Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC)) is a valuable source of news and information regarding Medicare business in your specific practice location? Through their electronic mailing lists, your local contractor can quickly provide you with information pertinent to your geographic area, such as local coverage determinations, local provider education activities, etc. If you have not done so already, you should go to your local contractor website and sign up for their listserv or e-mailing list. Many contractors have links on their home page to take you to their registration page to subscribe to their listserv. If you do not see a link on the homepage, just search their site for “listserv” or “e-mail list” to find the registration page. If you do not know the Web address of your contractor’s homepage, it is available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/CallCenterTollNumDirectory.zip on the CMS website.”

DMEPOS Supplier Accreditation – Get It Now

Deadline is September 30, 2009

CMS wants to remind suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) who bill Medicare under Part B that they must obtain accreditation by September 30, 2009.   In order to retain or obtain a Medicare Part B billing number, all DMEPOS suppliers (except for exempted professionals and other persons as specified by the Secretary) must comply with Medicare’s supplier and quality standards and become accredited.  DMEPOS suppliers should contact an accreditation organization right away to obtain information about the accreditation process and submit an application.

DMEPOS suppliers who submitted a completed application to an accrediting organization, on or before January 31, 2009, will have an accreditation decision (either full accreditation or denied accreditation) on or before the September 30, 2009 deadline.

DMEPOS suppliers submitting applications to an accrediting organization, on or after February 1, 2009, may or may not have their accreditation decision by the September 30, 2009 deadline.

The accreditation requirement applies to suppliers of durable medical equipment, medical supplies, home dialysis supplies and equipment, therapeutic shoes, parenteral/enteral nutrition, transfusion medicine and prosthetic devices, prosthetics and orthotics.  Pharmacies, pedorthists, mastectomy fitters, orthopedic fitters/technicians and athletic trainers must also meet the September 30, 2009 deadline for DMEPOS accreditation.  

Certain eligible professionals and other persons as specified by the Secretary are exempt from the accreditation requirement.  

Further information on the DMEPOS accreditation requirements along with a list of the accreditation organizations and those professionals and other persons exempted from accreditation may be found at www.cms.hhs.gov/medicareprovidersupenroll.

Enhancements/Updates to NPPES effective March 7, 2009

On March 7, 2009, the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) will undergo system maintenance.  As such, neither NPPES nor the National Provider Identifier (NPI) Registry will be available on March 7, 2009. 

The following enhancements will be incorporated into NPPES:

* The NPPES application help page text will be revised to ensure consistency  with the instructions found on the revised National Provider Identifier (NPI) Application/Update Form (CMS-10114 (11/08)).

* NPPES web users will be required to change their passwords after the Enumerator has reset them.  When the Enumerator resets a user’s password, the user will be redirected to the password reset page in order to change the reset password to a password of his/her choice.  NPPES will also enforce a minimum password length of 8 characters. 

The following enhancements will be incorporated into the NPI Registry:

* The ‘doing business as’ (DBA) search feature will be restored.

* The NPI Registry will be updated daily. 

* The NPI Registry will display all results in all capital letters..  This change will not affect the way information is displayed in a health care provider’s NPPES record.

Electronic File Interchange (EFI)
In addition, the EFI User Manual and Technical Companion Guide have been revised. The upcoming changes will not impact the EFI XML Schema. 

Additional Information

Health care providers can apply for an NPI online at https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov .  Health care providers needing assistance with applying for an NPI or updating their data in NPPES records may contact the NPI Enumerator at 1-800-465-3203 or email the request to the NPI Enumerator at CustomerService@NPIEnumerator.com.

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  Resident Satisfaction Websites

Advancing Excellence is a new coalition based, two-year campaign that launched in September 2006. The campaign is reinvigorating efforts to improve the quality of care and quality of life for those living or recuperating in America's nursing homes.
http://www.nhqualitycampaign.org/.

My InnerView’s  Quality ProfileTM tool assists leaders in monitoring pressure ulcers and physical restraints within their nursing homes as well as sets organizational targets for clinical quality improvement. Our Satisfaction Surveys allow facilities to measure resident, family and staff satisfaction.
http://www.myinnerview.com/

Kansas Culture Change Coalition is a group that provides support to long-term care organizations striving to develop systems that value the dignity of each individual who lives and works within their setting.  It is an organization of diverse interest groups that combine their talents to effect change that is hard to do as individuals.  The Kansas Culture Change Coalition maintains the vision of the Pioneer Network that supports a culture of aging that is life affirming, satisfying, humane, and meaningful.  Culture Change can transform a "facility" into a "home, a "patient/resident" into a "person", and a "schedule" into a "choice".
http://www.kansasculturechangecoalition.org/.

KFMC’s work with KS nursing homes assists nursing home staff with improving care processes on the clinical quality measures. Nursing homes who have committed to working with KFMC over the past five years have made significant progress in reducing quality measure rates.
http://www.kfmc.org/.

QIS Updates- click on tab 9 to access the Critical Element Pathways at
http://www.aging.state.ks.us/Manuals/QIS/TabIndex.html.  Click here for the Resident Interview and Resident Observation forms. http://www.aging.state.ks.us/Manuals/QIS/Tab05/CMS-20050_Resident_Interview_and_Observation.pdf. 

Click here for Provider Manual Updates from the KMAP website

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