Join Healthcentric Advisors, a member of the IPRO QIN-QIO, on June 17, 12:30-1:30 pm for Naloxone in Nursing Homes - A Best Practice webinar.

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. You can find all of our Associate Members listed on our website, www.maseniorcare.org/preferred-vendors.

MassMAP will hold its annual education and tabletop exercises from June 22 – 24, 2021. This education is free and for MassMAP facility members only.

Last week, Mass Senior Care member facility Elizabeth Seton Residence in Wellesley hosted a Celebration of Life and Memorial Tree Dedication. Resident family members and facility staff gathered in the facility’s courtyard to pay tribute to the lives and efforts of all individuals at the Elizabeth Seton Residence who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the tree dedication, families added their own message to stones inscribed with the names of those lost. Family members placed hand-painted stones in a basket as names were read and remembered. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the stones were carefully placed around the memorial tree. Read the full article in Wicked Local.

Mass Senior Care has submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services testimony and comments on the proposed federal fiscal year 2022 Medicare SNF Payment rule, emphasizing our concern about the proposed section that would recalibrate the SNF patient driven payment model (PDPM). Read Mass Senior Care's testimony and comments to CMS.

In response to outreach made by Massachusetts Senior Care Association and local nursing facility operators, members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation co-signed a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra asking that $10 billion in Provider Relief Fund and $3 billion in aid through the American Rescue Plan’s Rural Relief Funds be allocated for skilled nursing facilities and the long term care sector. Mass Senior Care extends our thanks to the members of the Massachusetts delegation who have co-signed the letter and their continued commitment and leadership on behalf of individuals living and working in the Commonwealth’s nursing facilities.

Mass Senior Care advocates for the extension of certain public health orders in Senate bill, the Public Health Council, via emergency regulation, extended the Public Health Commissioner’s authority to issue public health orders related to COVID-19 testing, vaccination and protections for high-risk populations, when the state’s public health emergency ends on June 15th, and as of June 13, 2021 CMS will begin imposing CMPs on nursing facilities that do not complete the weekly COVID-19 Vaccination Data for Residents and Healthcare Personnel to NHSN.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is providing long-term care facilities with updated vaccination guidance to maintain the safety of residents, staff, and visitors, MassHealth has issued All Provider Bulletin 318, which provides an update on monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19, DPH is collaborating with the CDC on the development of infection control trainings for frontline healthcare personnel, DPH invites long-term care facilities to attend a virtual Town Hall presentation of the Caring for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia training program, and the next weekly DPH call with providers is scheduled for Wednesday, June 9, 2021 at 11:00 a.m.

Governor Baker signed into law on May 28th a bill to address the issue of higher than anticipated solvency assessments in the first quarter of calendar year 2021. The state Department of Unemployment Assistance last month notified employers that the deadline for first quarter unemployment insurance payments had been delayed from April 30th to June 1st, to allow the Administration and legislature time to address the issue of higher than anticipated solvency assessments in the first quarter.