Memorandum To: Mass Senior Care Members From: Tara M. Gregorio, President Re: COVID-19 Update: Clarification on DPH Comprehensive PPE Guidance Date: May 17, 2021 Clarification on DPH Comprehensive PPE Guidance After hearing from members, Mass Senior Care reached out to DPH for clarification on the most recent Updated Comprehensive Personal Protective Equipment released on May 13, 2021. Per DPH, this guidance is for ALL healthcare facilities, not just long-term care facilities. Long-term care facilities are encouraged to follow long-term care

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. Are You Ready for Your Annual Survey? Tuesday, May 18, 2021 1:00pm – 2:30 pm Presented by HealthPRO Heritage Mass Senior Care's 2021 Quality Leader Sponsor Webinar Description: For some nursing facilities it has been close to two years since their last annual

Hamel-Lydon Chapel & Cremation Service of Massachusetts (Hamel-Lydon), a Mass Senior Care Association Associate Member, is offering ten (10) $500 awards to candidates who are home health aides, hospice care aides or certified nursing assistants. Qualifying candidates are invited to apply for the award.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering web-based training that provides an overview of the general and key clinical considerations important for conducting standardized cognitive and mood assessments. This four-course series is designed for providers in the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) setting.

Mass Senior Care celebrates our nursing home residents and their dedicated caregivers during National Skilled Nursing Care Week. This year's theme is Together Through the Seasons to honor the collaborative commitment of skilled nursing facilities and their staff in providing compassionate care to their residents during these unprecedented times. “During National Skilled Nursing Care Week, we thank our incredible community of long term care heroes who have shown strength and resilience over this past year in protecting our vulnerable residents against one of the deadliest diseases in recent history,” said Tara M. Gregorio, President of Mass Senior Care Association.

The Senate Ways and Means (SWM) Committee on Tuesday released its FY 2022 budget recommendation and Mass Senior Care is pleased to report that the Committee has recommended appropriating additional funding to set Medicaid nursing facility rates using calendar year 2019 costs and to provide an additional rate add of up to 5% for facilities with a disproportionate share of Medicaid residents totaling over 75%. Moving the base year forward to calendar year 2019 will better recognize current costs of care delivery. These two proposals build on the current Medicaid rate modernization initiative which created an integrated base rate that begins to better recognize current resident care costs more accurately.

Today the DPH is rescinding the memorandum entitled "Long-Term Care Facility Staff and Resident Roster Reporting to the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA)" effective today, May 13, 2021, also the DPH revised the Comprehensive Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Guidance. The revisions reflect a greater availability of PPE and the return to conventional uses of PPE, including N95 respirators, in alignment with CDC guidance.

Mass Senior Care Association continues to work with our member long term care facilities to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among residents and staff. Achieving a high rate of resident and staff vaccinations is critical to our fight against COVID-19 and ensuring the safety of our residents and the entire caregiving team. There are several strategies that have proven successful in increasing vaccination rates and addressing hesitancy in long term care facilities.

This memorandum discusses the Interim Final Rule on COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements for LTCF and ICFs-IID, all BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag cards currently have a twelve-month expiry date and the weekly DPH call.