E-News Update Articles

Earlier this year, EOHHS established a new grant program for eligible MassHealth providers to fund efforts to improve access to health care services for individuals with disabilities or for whom English is not a primary language.

Massachusetts Senior Care Association is a proud partner organization of The Massachusetts Healthcare Safety and Quality Consortium which brings together the state’s health care community — providers, payers, patients, government agencies, and other policymakers and experts — to accelerate safety and quality improvement statewide.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last week issued a proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulation that would impact provider assessments and upper payment limit (UPL) programs.

Please find the conference handouts from Mass Senior Care's 2019 Annual Meeting & Trade Show.

Mass Senior Care's 2019 Annual Meeting & Trade Show event was a great success. Tara Gregorio, President of Mass Senior Care highlighted the success of advocacy efforts which resulted in a $66 million increase for nursing home care.

Save 10% on long term care and assisted living publications through the AHCA/NCAL online bookstore.

The American Health Care Association (AHCA) has provided the following PDPM Claims Payment Update: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) informed AHCA that all Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) claims, including multiple Health Insurance Prospective Payment System (HIPPS) code claims, will now process. Members should submit all claims as quickly as possible to start the 14-day floor claims process.

Download PHI's guide to help providers recruit and retain direct care workers and improve the delivery of care.

Mass Senior Care's Annual Meeting & Trade Show event on November 14, 2019 is sold out. If you have any questions, please contact Mass Senior Care's office at 617-558-0202.

Massachusetts Senior Care Association is a proud partner organization of The Massachusetts Healthcare Safety and Quality Consortium which brings together the state’s health care community — providers, payers, patients, government agencies, and other policymakers and experts — to accelerate safety and quality improvement statewide. The consortium led by the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety was formed after a study found 62,000 preventable harm events in Massachusetts in 2017. The goal of the consortium is to create a Roadmap to

Due to technical difficulties with the Quality Award Portal, the American Health Care Association is extending the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Intent to Apply (ITA) deadline to Thursday, November 21st. Submissions must be received before 8 pm ET on November 21st.

Effective November 1, 2019, the American Red Cross State Testing Office, which coordinates certification renewals for certified nurse aides (CNAs), has a new address.

The DoN Program issues a yearly informational bulletin on annual adjustments to the DoN expenditure minimums to adjust the Substantial Capital Expenditure dollar amount for inflation.

The Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality has released a Circular Letter providing clarification on the use of the term “ambulatory” in the definition of rest home in 105 CMR 150.000 Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities

Mass Senior Care invites staff at member facilities to participate in various committees designed to share information on the topics of clinical quality, regulatory, human resources and finance and reimbursement.

The submission deadline for the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) has been extended to November 18, 2019. Assessment data SNFs submitted April 1 – June 30 (Q2) of calendar year (CY) 2019 are due with this deadline.

Mass Senior Care last Friday presented testimony on EOHHS’ $56 million nursing facility rate regulation. At the public hearing, Chief Operating Officer Gary Abrahams noted that the October 1 regulation implemented the legislatively-required $50 million rate increase, which is necessary to begin to help stabilize the nursing facility sector.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on November 1st announced via a Federal Register notice that it is extending the validity of TPS-related documentation for beneficiaries under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan through January 4, 2021.

The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released its updated list which reflects all OIG exclusions and reinstatement actions up to, and including, those taken in October 2019. This new file is meant to replace the updated List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) database file available for download last month. Individuals and entities that have been reinstated to the federal health care programs are not included in this file.

The Legislature continues to deliberate on the $700 million FY 2019 year end supplemental budget, which includes $10 million to restore funding for 170 nursing facilities which saw rate cuts of up to $2.80 per day, as a result of an abrupt and fundamental redesign of MassHealth’s longstanding capital reimbursement methodology.

Mass Senior Care will present testimony on EOHHS $56 million nursing facility rate regulation at tomorrow’s public hearing. Mass Senior Care is grateful that the October 1 regulation implements the legislatively-required $50 million rate increase designed to begin to help stabilize the nursing home sector.

The Intent to Apply (ITA) for the 2020 AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award application cycle application cycle is closing soon! The deadline to submit an ITA is November 7, 2019. AHCA/NCAL encourages you to submit an ITA through the Quality Award Portal here before the deadline. For more information about the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program and the benefits of submitting an ITA, please visit ahcancal.org/qualityaward .

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released 13 YouTube videos recorded during a 'Train-the-Trainer' event which occurred in Baltimore, Maryland on August 13 and 14, 2019.

Life Care Centers of America recently honored Ted Eliopoulos, Director of Business Development, upon his retirement. Ted has worked in long term care for over 25 years and throughout his tenure has been an active member of Mass Senior Care Association. We extend our best wishes to Ted!

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a short video tutorial on October 17, 2019 to assist providers with coding the Minimum Data Set (MDS) GG0130A. Eating item.

Legislation impacting long term care facilities was heard at the October 29th Joint Committee on Elder Affairs hearing. Representative Denise Garlick (D-Needham) presented oral remarks on her bill, House Bill 609, An Act Relative to Promoting the Betterment of Resident’s Health and Safety in Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Facilities

Staffing data from July 1st through September 30th must be submitted no later than 45 days from the end of the quarter. The final submission deadline for this quarter is November 14th, 2019. Only data successfully submitted by the deadline is considered timely and used on the Nursing Home Compare website and in the five star rating calculations. Once a facility uploads their data file, they need to check their final Validation Report, which can be accessed in the Certification

Join Us on December 4th for a fun event to support the Mass Senior Care Foundation! Featuring a Craft Beer Tasting, fun food and the opportunity to network with long term care leaders!

EOHHS has indicated that it will postal mail to facilities their October 1 Medicaid 2020 rate certification letters at the end of this week, with receipt expected by the Monday, October 28 th. For any questions about rate certification letters, providers should contact CHIA’s LTC call center via email at CHIAcostreports.LTCF@State.MA.US or by phone at 617-701-8297. As noted in Mass Senior Care Association’s earlier communication to members, the new rate regulation is a $56 million package, including implementation of the

Alexis Exama knew she wanted to be a nurse growing up. Her mother, a nurse at a local nursing home, would bring Alexis to visit with residents.

Massachusetts Bronze and Silver Quality Award recipients were recognized at the AHCA/NCAL Annual Convention in Orlando. Mass Senior Care congratulates the following member facilities for their achievement and dedication to performance excellence.

The 2nd meeting of the legislatively mandated Nursing Home Task Force was held last Friday, October 18, and focused on Medicaid reimbursement and Labor and Workforce issues. Separate presentations were made by: Assistant Secretary for MassHealth Daniel Tsai, MSCA President Tara Gregorio and Jennifer James, Undersecretary, Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Please join Mass Senior Care, NALCO Water, An Ecolab Company and the Department of Public Health on October 31, 2019 at 1:00 pm for a webinar on Legionnaires’ Disease: What’s New, What’s True and What to Do.

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means earlier this week proposed its FY2019 deficiency appropriation bill, which includes $10 million to restore funding for 170 nursing facilities which saw rate cuts of up to $2.80/day.

AHCA has provided an update in regard to CMS and Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) Claims Processing.

Oriol Health Care recently donated 35 ventilator units to Dr. Plutarco Castellanos. Dr. Castellanos will be bringing the ventilators to a newly built hospital in Honduras which will help people in need who are waiting for a unit to become available.

Mass Senior Care’s President Tara Gregorio and Vice President of Clinical Operations for Bane Care Management, Lynne Farrell were featured in the Betsey Lehman Center’s Patient Safety Beat article, "Efforts are on to raise flu vaccination rates for Massachusetts health care staff."

The House of Representatives, yesterday, passed its FY2019 deficiency appropriation bill, which includes $10 million to restore funding for 170 nursing facilities which saw rate cuts of up to $2.80/day, as a result of an abrupt and fundamental redesign of MassHealth’s longstanding capital reimbursement methodology.

MassHealth’s Technical Refresh, on October 27, 2019, will replace its "end of life" HIPAA compliance and translator tool. Providers and Trading Partners who submit and receive 270/271 batch eligibility transactions are required to evaluate the changes outlined in the MassHealth HIPAA Companion Guides, modify their systems as appropriate, and test the transaction with MassHealth to ensure that files submitted on or after the implementation date will process correctly.

The CDC will host a free webinar on Preventing the Spread of Novel or Targeted Multidrug-resistant Organisms (MDROs) in Nursing Homes through Enhanced Barrier Precautions on Thursday, October 24, 2019 from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm. The CDC recently introduced a new approach called Enhanced Barrier Precautions to help address the challenges in caring for residents with MDROs in nursing homes.

Mass Senior Care earlier this week testified at the MassHealth hearing on the Ambulance and Wheelchair Van services regulation that was adopted on an emergency basis, effective September 20, 2019. The regulation updated Medicaid transportation rates. MSCA members have noted that access to wheelchair van transportation for nursing facility residents to travel to needed physician, treatment or other medical appointments has become increasingly difficult to secure over the last year as many transportation providers have found it challenging to provide transportation service to nursing facilities residents due to Medicaid underfunding.

EOHHS has scheduled a public hearing on Friday, November 1, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. in the First Floor Conference Room, 100 Hancock Street, Quincy, Massachusetts MA relative to the adoption of the FY 2020 Medicaid nursing facility rate regulation - 101 CMR 206.00: Standard Payments to Nursing Facilities. The regulation was adopted last week on an Emergency basis. The EOHHS Nursing Home Provider Payments webpage includes links to the new regulation and summary rate worksheet. EOHHS will issue the October 1 rate certification letters to providers via email on or around October 22nd.

CMS announced that starting on October 23, 2019, nursing facilities that have been cited at the G-level or above for abuse, neglect and exploitation under F600, F602 and F603 in the last year or at the D-level or above for the potential harm in the past two year will be flagged with an abuse icon on Nursing Home Compare. 43 Massachusetts nursing facilities are impacted by this policy.

Mass Senior Care is pleased to welcome new members to our Association. Our Associate Members have demonstrated their commitment to the senior care provider community by joining Mass Senior Care and participating as exhibitors and sponsors for events and educational conferences. Mass Senior Care members are encouraged to contact Associate Members when they are in need of long term care products and services.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences and Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality invites you to participate in an educational webinar on healthcare personnel influenza vaccination for long-term care facilities. This webinar is scheduled for October 23rd, 2019 from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm. Click here to register for this webinar

CMS this week issued three important manual updates for PDPM implementation including Medicare General Information, Eligibility, and Entitlement Manual PDPM, Medicare Benefit Policy Manual and the Medicare Claims Processing Manual.

Don't miss our 2019 Annual Meeting & Trade Show on Thursday, November 14th at the DCU Center in Worcester. This year's theme, “The Future of Long Term Care: Strategies to Survive and Succeed”, will feature Clif Porter, Senior Vice President of Government Relations at AHCA/NCAL and Secretary Rosalin Acosta, Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

BaneCare Management, has received the Silver Award in the 2019 McKnight’s Excellence in Technology Awards program. BaneCare is being recognized for their data analysis on residents who are admitted to the hospital after being discharged from a skilled nursing facility.

EOHHS last week issued proposed revised rates for services provided by temporary nursing to licensed hospitals and nursing facilities -- 101 CMR 345/Temporary Nursing Services (TNS). The proposed amendments would establish the rate limits for temporary nursing agency services for each geographic region as purchased by hospitals and nursing facilities effective January 1, 2020.

The Determination of Need (DoN) program has released guidelines which provides guidance to applicants on submitting proposed project applications that consolidate all planned or reasonably foreseeable capital expenditures for a licensed health care facility during a single federal fiscal year. The DoN program will host an educational webinar on the consolidation guideline for all interested parties to provide information about changes to the application process.