The staffing reduction process was started Monday, April 11, 2011 at the Kansas Department on Aging (KDOA.) This was part of larger operation reduction efforts to prevent service reductions and waiting lists during the next fiscal year.  KHCA has been notified of the following changes in the LCE Commission:

1.  The Lawrence and Topeka survey regions have been consolidated.  Audrey Sunderraj now serves as the Regional Manager for this consolidated region.

2.  The Residential Health Care Facilities regional manager, Patty Brown, and the ICFMR supervisor Helen Shewey now report to the Commissioner, but their job duties remain the same.  Susan Fout's former position as Director of Mental Health and Residential Facilities was eliminated.

As positions have been eliminated, the employees who held that position will have an opportunity to "bump" or bid into other state positions. It will be several weeks before we are made aware of the final outcome of this transition process.

Please click here for a link to the Kansas Health Institute story which provides further details.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

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 home, a “patient/resident” into a person, and a “schedule” into a choice. The Board of Directors shall assume responsibility for governance and execution of coalition activities including financial and operational decisions.

If you are interested in becoming a Board Member or would like to nominate someone, please send nomination and supporting materials to:
Stephanie Gfeller, 103 Leasure Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506 by May 15, 2011.

Click here for more information.

Dietetic services supervisors granted equivalency by KDOA must renew their equivalency
by April 30, 2011.

The individual must mail to Sandra Dickison, Kansas Department on Aging Consultant Dietitian,
503 South Kansas Avenue, Topeka, KS 66603, his/her current letter of equivalency plus documentation
of a minimum of 15 hours per year of continuing education in the areas of food service management,
human resources management, nutrition and medical nutrition therapy, and food safety.

A renewal letter of equivalency will be sent to the facility where the individual is employed. The facility must have an unexpired letter of equivalency in the dietetic services supervisor’s personnel file.

The regulation referring to the dietetic services supervisor equivalency is KAR 26-39-100, Definitions
(v) “Dietetic services supervisor” (v) “Dietetic services supervisor” means an individual who meets one of the
following requirements:
(1) is licensed in Kansas as a dietitian;
(2) has an associate’s degree in dietetic technology from a program approved by the American dietetic association;
(3) is a dietary manager who is certified by the board of the dietary managers’ association; or
(4) has training and experience in dietetic services supervision and management that are determined by the Kansas Department on Aging to be equivalent in content to the requirement specified in paragraph (2) or (3) of this subsection.

Efforts to create a Regional Action Coalition in Kansas, for the purpose of advancing the new Institute of Medicine recommendations on the Future of Nursing  are continuing to move forward. To celebrate the beginning of the Kansas Coalition, an all-day Summit on June 1, 2011 is being planned in Kansas City.
 
We are delighted that Dr. Sue Hassmiller, Senior Advisor for Nursing and Director, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Initiative on the Future of Nursing will be our keynote speaker for the Summit.
 
The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action is a collaboration by the RWJF and the AARP Foundation to implement the IOM's recent recommendations for nursing. A driving force for the Campaign is the state Coalition mechanism. We have started a strong Coalition in Kansas, and the Summit will help our efforts in moving forward.

The Summit will be held at the University of Kansas School of Nursing.
 
Please have attendees to RSVP to Linda Deneke (ldeneke@kumc.edu), so we can order the appropriate number of lunches. Also forward any questions to:
 
 
Cynthia S. Teel, PhD, RN
Associate Dean, Graduate Programs
Professor
University of Kansas School of Nursing
3901 Rainbow Blvd., Mailstop 4043
Kansas City, KS 66160
913-588-1697
cteel@kumc.edu
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AHCA/NCAL launched its official Convention & Expo website.

Online registration and comprehensive details for this year’s 62nd AHCA/NCAL Convention in Expo can be found online at www.AHCAconvention.org or www.NCALconvention.org.

With a new earlier date this year, September 18-12, 2011, mark your calendar now and plan to attend four value-packed days of learning and networking in Las Vegas!

Early bird registration discount ends June 20, 2011.

AHCA is pleased to announce that a total of 1,119 applications were received; 702 Bronze, 376 Silver and 41 Gold. We are particularly excited about the increase in Silver and Gold applications, up from 271 Silver and 26 Gold in 2010. KHCA/kcal is pleased to announce that 10.6% of our membership applied for awards with 14 Bronze, 4 Silver and 1 Gold.  

The timeline for applicant notification and feedback report distribution is as follows:

• Bronze Applicant Notification and Feedback Distribution – June 30, 2011
• Silver Applicant Notification –July 29, 2011
• Gold Applicant Notification – August 22, 2011
• Silver and Gold Feedback Reports Distribution – August 22, 2011

The 2011 AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award recipients will be recognized on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 during the Closing General Session/Awards Ceremony at the 2011 AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention & Expo in Las Vegas. Good luck to all who applied.

The American Health Care Association is nearing the completion of its 2010 Nursing Facility Staffing Survey.  If you have not completed the survey, please take the time to complete it for receipt by Friday, April 29, 2011.  The goal of this survey is to provide statistics on retention, and turnover for advocacy purposes.  If the response rate for each state is sufficient, AHCA will be able to generate these statistics on a state level basis.  Please note that individual results will not be disclosed to any party.

A PDF version of the survey may be found here.

Here are a few hints for completing the survey.  In Column A, the data for the total number of current employees as of December 31, 2010 can be obtained from the payroll report that includes the date of December 31, 2010.  In Column B, the total number of vacant positions as of December 31, 2010 can be obtained from your Human Resource records.  In Column C, the number of employees who had worked in the facility for 1 year or longer can be obtained from year-end payroll records for 2010. These records may include the date of hire. If the individual was employed in the last payroll report for 2010 (or on December 31, 2010) and had a hire date prior to January 1, 2010, then he/she would be included in the number provided in Column C.  In Column D, the total number of employees (whether full-time or part-time) during Calendar Year 2010 can be obtained from the year-end payroll records for 2010.

Any questions regarding the completion of this survey may be directed to Mr. Jeffrey Liu at 202-898-2818, Ms. Lisa Matthews-Martin at 202-898-2824 or Mr. Bill Hartung at 202-898-2841.

Don’t be a last minute shopper. Make sure you get the items and t-shirts colors and sizes you want for National Nursing Home Week® (NNHW).

AHCA encourages you to place NNHW your order early this year as product quantities are limited to inventory in stock. This year’s t-shirts in bright blue and white are very popular and your staff will enjoy them. Don’t forget our decorative NNHW products including balloons, posters, place mats and buttons make it easy for your staff when planning events throughout the week.

Order online using AHCA’s new easy-to-use storefront and to preview all of this’s year NNHW products. For planning ideas and community outreach tips visit our official NNHW website.
 
NNHW

Catalog

The Medicare Enrollment Application Fee  application fee was imposed  by statute on institutional providers that are newly enrolling, re- enrolling/revalidating or adding a new practice location for applications received on or after Friday, March 25, 2011.

According to a CMS notice issued on March 23, 2011, at 76 Federal Register 16422, the application fee is $505 for Calendar Year (CY) 2011. Based upon provisions of the ACA, this fee will vary from year-to-year based on adjustments made pursuant to the Consumer Price Index – All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The application fee is to be imposed on institutional providers that are newly enrolling, re- enrolling/revalidating or adding a new practice location for applications received on or after Friday, March 25, 2011.

The Statute and Regulations:
Section 6401(a) of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires the Secretary to impose a fee on each “institutional provider of medical or other items or services and suppliers.” The fee is to be used by the Secretary to cover the cost of program integrity efforts, which includes the cost of screening associated with provider enrollment processes including those under Sections 1866(j) and 1128J of the Social Security Act. 
Two pages of the final rule, 42 CFR Section 424.514, providing details on the fee is attached.   76 Federal Register 5962, February 2, 2011.

CMS has defined “institutional provider” to mean any provider or supplier that submits a paper Medicare enrollment application using the CMS-855A, CMS-855B (except physician and non-physician practitioner organizations) or CMS-855S forms or associated Internet-based Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS) enrollment application.

Under the final rule, failure to pay an application fee (unless a hardship waiver is granted) can result in denial of Medicare enrollment or revocation of Medicare enrollment. See 424.525, 530, and 535.  The Medicaid language is not as straightforward with regard to application fees triggering termination.  While state Medicaid agencies are required to terminate enrollment for not submitting timely and accurate information and cooperating with any screening methods (455.416(a)), application fees are not listed under the Medicaid screening procedures at 455.450.  However, states still are required under 455.460 to collect application fees "prior to executing a provider agreement from a prospective or re-enrolling provider" with certain exceptions.

Trailblazer Instructions:
The following guidance on enrollment and payment of the fee was taken from Trailblazer Instructions.  A comparison with other Fiscal Intermediary (FI) and Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) notices suggested that the instructions will be uniform across MACs and FIs, but providers should, of course, adhere to the instructions of their own FI or MAC.

Institutional providers applying to participate in the Medicare program must first submit a completed CMS-855 application. An enrollment application can be submitted in one of two ways.
Electronically Using Internet-based PECOS – Once providers have completed and submitted the enrollment application using Internet-based PECOS, they should promptly pay the application fee through http://www.pay.gov/  :
• On Pay.gov, type CMS in the search box under “Find Public Forms” and click the GO button.
• Click the CMS Medicare Application Fee link.
• Complete the form and submit payment as directed.
• Providers will receive a confirmation screen indicating that payment was successful.
 This confirmation screen is the provider’s receipt and should be printed for his records. CMS strongly recommends that this receipt be mailed to the Medicare contractor along with the Certification Statement for the enrollment application. CMS will notify the Medicare contractor that the application fee has been paid. The Medicare contractor will process the provider enrollment application in the order in which it was received. Normal processing time frames apply to the provider enrollment application.
Paper Medicare Enrollment Application (CMS-855) – Once providers have completed the CMS-855 paper application, they should promptly pay the application fee through http://www.pay.gov/  .
• On Pay.gov, type CMS in the search box under “Find Public Forms” and click the GO button.
• Click the CMS Medicare Application Fee link.
• Complete the form and submit payment as directed.
• Providers will receive a confirmation screen indicating that payment was successful.
This confirmation screen is the provider’s receipt and should be printed for his records. CMS strongly recommends that this receipt be mailed to the Medicare contractor along with the completed CMS-855 application. CMS will notify the Medicare contractor that your application fee has been paid. The Medicare contractor will process the provider enrollment application in the order in which it was received. Normal processing time frames apply to the provider enrollment application.
Pay.gov Information
• Pay.gov   is operated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is a Web-based application that allows providers to make online payments to government agencies by electronic check, credit card or debit from their checking or savings account.
• Pay.gov accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.
• Providers should not mail application fee payments. Pay.gov cannot accept payments by mail or phone.
• All fees must be paid via Pay.gov; paper checks will not be accepted.
• Users do not need to worry about submitting the incorrect amount. CMS has pre-populated the field for the correct payment amount for the specific calendar year.
• Users may not make multiple payments in one transaction and must make separate payments for each application. 

CMS has reviewed the security of Pay.gov and is confident in the measures used to protect its users. Pay.gov uses 128-bit SSL encryption to protect transaction information while providers are logged in to Pay.gov. In addition, any account numbers providers set up in their profile are encrypted before being stored in the database. When providers access their profile, any account numbers that are entered will be masked on-screen; each account number in the profile will be displayed as a group of asterisks followed by the last four digits of the account number.

Questions or Issues Submitting Application Fee:
The Medicare application is processed by the Medicare contractor via the Internet-based PECOS. The application fee, paid electronically by check, debit card or credit card, is processed through Pay.gov. Therefore, if providers have problems submitting their application fee, they should use the Help Tools available on the Pay.gov site for questions specific to the payment processing.
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Recently, CMS posted the a Survey and Certification Memorandum that provides information about several changes CMS will be making to Nursing Home Compare. 

April 23, 2011 changes:

(1) CMS will be “freezing” the quality measure data and the five star quality measure ratings currently on the website for six months, beginning on April 23.  As we understand it, CMS will be using this “frozen” measure to calculate the overall Five Star rating during those six months.

(2) Information will be added to Nursing Home Compare that will allow consumers to more directly file complaints about nursing homes with State Survey Agencies. 

(3) There will be more visible consumer rights section added to Nursing Home Compare that clearly spells out resident and consumer rights and provide information about courses of action that consumers can take if they feel their rights are being violated.

July 2011 changes:
           
(1) Additional information will be displayed on Nursing Home Compare for all facilities:           
a. The number of substantiated complaints
b. The number of enforcement actions levied, including:
i. Civil Money Penalties
ii. Denials of Payment for New Admissions

If you need additional information or have specific questions, please contact Lyn Bentley at lbentley@ahca.org.