Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee released its FY 2022 budget recommendation. Nursing Home SUD Amendment #604, filed by State Representative James O’Day (D-West Boylston) would establish a Medicaid rate add-on for nursing facilities who provide specialized care for residents with substance use disorder.

Information is presented on the public health emergency extention and the most recent county positivity rates released by DPH on April 21, 2021.

The demand for professionals with expertise in long term care is growing rapidly. The U.S. will need between 5.7 million and 6.5 million nurses, nurse aides, home health, and personal care workers to care for the 27 million Americans who will require long term care by 2050.​ Careers in Aging Week is dedicated to bringing greater awareness and visibility to the wide-ranging career opportunities in long term care and aging services, and to celebrate current employees in the profession.

On Friday, April 16, 2021, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Board of Registration of Nursing Home Administrators voted unanimously to reduce the required CEUS from 40 to 20 for the period of July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022.

Mass Senior Care is offering several webinars on important COVID-19 related topics, including life safety code, employment leaves and rebuilding census. Please click on the links below to register or email lnguyen@maseniorcare.org if you have any questions.

Please join us for Mass Senior Care Association’s 2021 virtual Spring Conference on Thursday, May 6, 2021. As we begin to slowly emerge from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that we begin to take steps to move forward. Our dynamic conference speakers, Steven Littlehale, MS, CGNS-BC, Chief Innovation Officer at Zimmet Healthcare Service Group and Martha Hayward, founding member of the Conversation Project and Lead Faculty for Patient Centered Care with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) will offer their respective perspectives on how the CMS Five Star System and our approaches to End of Life Conversations have been impacted by COVID-19 and will offer strategies we can implement to help our staff and our organizations adjust to the new operating environment.

Please join us for Mass Senior Care Association’s 2021 virtual Spring Conference on Thursday, May 6, 2021. As we begin to slowly emerge from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that we begin to take steps to move forward. Our dynamic conference speakers, Steven Littlehale, MS, CGNS-BC, Chief Innovation Officer at Zimmet Healthcare Service Group and Martha Hayward, founding member of the Conversation Project and Lead Faculty for Patient Centered Care with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) will offer their respective perspectives on how the CMS Five Star System and our approaches to End of Life Conversations have been impacted by COVID-19 and will offer strategies we can implement to help our staff and our organizations adjust to the new operating environment.

Members are informed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act suspended the sequestration payment adjustment percentage of 2% applied to all Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) claims from May 1 through December 31, 2020, DPH provided LTCF the Vaccination Options for Residents and Staff & Visitation FAQs to share with residents’ families regarding how the COVID-19 vaccination impacts families’ visitation with loved ones and interactions with staff, CEU requirements for nursing home administrators and the DPH weekly call.