Member Resources

This year, National Certified Nursing Assistants Week is from June 13th to June 19th, 2024. This week aims to celebrate and recognize the incredible work that CNAs do everyday in our nursing facilities and assisted living residences.

Member Update: MassHealth Announces Important Change in LTC Eligibility Verification Timelines; Register Now for Two Important Webinars on Stopping Your CMS Five-Star Rating from Falling and Implementing the Revised Facility Assessment Requirements

May 22, 2024, 1pm EST - CDC Townhall: Understanding Enhanced Barrier Precautions June 5, 2024, 2pm EST – AHCA Hosts Enhanced Barrier Precautions Open Office Hour with the CDC

Mass Senior Care Association (MSCA) has joined with the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and many others to sign a petition advocating for the inclusion of nursing as a STEM designated field on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) STEM Designated Program List.

At the recent American College of Health Care Administrators convocation, several Massachusetts nursing facility administrators were recognized for their contributions to the long term care sector.

On Sunday, May 19, 2024, the Virtual Gateway will move its login portal to a new site and offer additional, new methods to log into the Virtual Gateway. Existing Virtual Gateway users will be presented with three options on the new Virtual Gate way login page.

Register Now! Catch a Falling Star – Stop Your CMS Five-Star Rating from Falling Thursday, May 30, 2024 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Thank you to all skilled nursing facility staff for your dedication to enhancing the quality of care and quality of life of your residents.

The Senate is currently deliberating on their FY 2025 budget recommendation with active floor debate beginning on Monday. We need your immediate and ongoing help in urging your State Senator to support and co-sponsor Amendment #494 (filed by Senator Julian Cyr), which would provide $128 million (half of which is reimbursed by the federal government) in critically needed funding to allow the state’s 351 nursing homes to increase wages for our 53,000 deserving staff and hire 1,000 additional direct care workers.

Member Update: MassHealth Issues Note on Technical Issue Impacting Weekly MDS reports ELG 402 and 404 dated 05/15/2024

Member Update: EOHHS Issues Nursing Facility User Fee Administrative Bulletin: July 1, 2024 Fees; Register for Friday’s Webinar: Demystifying MA Medicaid PDPM: Case Mix Management Strategies Unveiled

Member Update: Register Now! 5.17 Webinar "Demystifying MA Medicaid PDPM: Case Mix Management Strategies Unveiled"; HHS Issued New Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities Rule Impacting Nursing Homes; REMINDER: Reporting of Healthcare Personnel Influenza Vaccinations; DPH Division of Surveillance, Analytics and Informatics New Confidential Fax Number; CMS Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long Term Care Open Door Forum Cancelled

Catch a Falling Star – Stop Your CMS Five-Star Rating from Falling Thursday, May 30, 2024 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Next week is National Skilled Nursing Care Week (NSNCW)! The theme for this year is “Radiant Memories - A Tribute to the Golden Age of Radio”, serving as a call to honor the enduring legacy of skilled nursing care centers.

MASStrong, in collaboration with the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety, is offering online support groups for nursing home aides, home health workers and personal care attendants working in Massachusetts.

This week Mass Senior Care Association (MSCA) graduated 39 nursing leaders from our Director of Nursing Leadership Development Program.

On April 22, 2024, the final rule for Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities was released. This rule included significant updates to the Facility Assessment requirement.

Honoring Choices has a new video that highlights the Step-by-Step Health Care Planning Process, which enables health care professionals and adults to engage in planning conversations- from simple to serious illness- to decide for good care over a person's lifetime.

The Commonwealth’s transition from the current paper-based MA MOLST Program to the POLST (Portable Orders for Life- Sustaining Treatment) electronic form and statewide electronic registry is well underway.

Demystifying MA Medicaid PDPM: Case Mix Management Strategies Unveiled Friday, May 17, 2024 1:00pm – 2:00pm

The Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association (MHA) has issued a new report outlining the challenges the healthcare system faces and offering some goals to relieve the pressures on patients, caregivers, and employers.

Mass Senior Care is proud to celebrate the invaluable contributions of nurses in our communities.

The full Senate will begin active debate on the FY 2025 state budget during the week of May 20th.

Member Update: House Introduces Health Care Market Reform Bill to Control Costs; REMINDER: Reporting of Healthcare Personnel Influenza Vaccinations; MassHealth POSC Users - Virtual Gateway Multifactor Authentication Implementation

Member Update: Steward Health Care Files for Bankruptcy

Next week is National Nurses Week! The theme for this year is “Nurses Make the Difference” and we look forward to honoring the incredible nurses who embody the spirit of compassion and care in the long term care community.

As a reminder with this year’s annual nursing home administrator’s license renewal, all nursing home administrators must have completed a minimum of 40 contact hours of continuing education activities that meet the applicable requirements.

Join the Massachusetts eHealth Institute (MeHI) and the MassCyberCenter on May 9th at 10am for the monthly health care provider cybersecurity call.

CMS-certified skilled nursing facilities are required to report annual Healthcare Personnel influenza vaccination summary data through the NHSN HPS Component annually.

The May 2, 2024, 2pm-3pm Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long Term Care Open Door Forum has been rescheduled to May 16, 2:00pm-3:00pm ET.

Mass Senior Care members are invited to join us for the AHCA/NCAL Congressional Briefing on June 3-4, 2024 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill.

The supplemental budget signed into law by Governor Maura Healey also includes a provision extending for another year through March 31, 2025 the COVID-19 pandemic policy allowing Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA)-certified Assisted Living Residences (ALRs) to provide limited skilled nursing care, retain residents who require skilled care for more than 90 consecutive days, waives the EOEA ALR staffing requirements provided that an ALR ensures that it has sufficient staffing at all times to meet the needs of the residents, and waives training requirements as long as the ALR procures staff with adequate experience and provides on-the-job training to safely perform their duties as set out in the EOEA guidance issued on April 2, 2020.

Congratulations to the graduates of the third CNA Training Program at West Side House of Worcester, a member of the Essex Group Management company!

We are pleased to report that in an ongoing effort to address acute workforce challenges in healthcare, Governor Maura Healey signed into law the Fiscal Year 2024 Supplemental Budget Act that makes permanent the state’s COVID-19 pandemic policy of allowing nursing school graduates and students in their final semester to practice nursing at in-patient health care settings for a limited time.

Member Update: Governor Healey Signs Into Law FY2024 Supplemental Budget Bill; FY2024 Supplemental Budget Bill Also Extends Provision for Nurses to Provide Skilled Care in an ALR; DOL Finalizes Overtime Rule; FTC Releases Final Non-Compete Rule; Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long Term Care Open Door Forum on May 2 Rescheduled

Member Update: MOLST to POLST Transition Informational Meeting; Reminder: Reporting of Healthcare Personnel Influenza; Updated Process for Adding of Temporary Beds in Alternate Inpatient Care Space in Hospitals

The 2024 spring sale on AHCA/NCAL’s Gero Nurse Prep course starts next Wednesday, May 1 and runs through June 15.

Join Zimmet Healthcare Services Group at their annual conference, Bon Voyage Reimbursement, from July 16 to 18 at the Mohegan Sun Resort in Connecticut.

AHCA has developed a consolidated list of all currently available regulatory resources on AHCA website.

CMS-certified skilled nursing facilities are required to report annual Healthcare Personnel influenza vaccination summary data through the NHSN HPS Component annually.

The DPH and Mass Senior Care continue to encourage nursing facilities to vaccinate residents and staff with the most up to date COVID-19 vaccine.

The DPH released guidance on Organizational Policies and Procedures for Mitigating Respiratory Illness after the expiration of the PHE.

This month, CMS released information regarding the testing of a risk-based survey (RBS) approach that allows consistently higher-quality facilities to receive a more focused survey that takes less time and resources than the traditional standard recertification survey.

The Legislature today approved and sent to Governor Healey a Fiscal Year 2024 Supplemental Budget that contains statutory language making permanent the state’s COVID-19 pandemic policies of allowing any nursing school graduates and students in their final semester of nursing education to practice nursing in in-patient health care settings for a limited time, as determined by DPH.

AHCA/NCAL members now have access to detailed summaries of the three final rules released by CMS earlier this week.

Administrative, clinical, and operations staff from nursing facilities across the state attended Mass Senior Care’s April 25th Spring Conference & Trade Show at the DCU Center in Worcester.