Twenty-four Mass Senior Care member facilities received the 2020 Bronze – Commitment to Quality and one member received the Silver – Achievement in Quality Award by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). The AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program provides a pathway for providers of long term and post-acute care services to journey towards performance excellence. The program is based on the core values and criteria of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.

Fourth quarter FY 2019 Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Reports (PEPPERs) are available for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs). These reports summarize provider-specific data statistics for Medicare services that may be at risk for improper payments.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued a 4-page SNF COVID-19 PHE Tip Sheet. This tip sheet is designed to assist Skill Nursing Facility (SNF) providers in understanding the status of the SNF Quality Reporting Program (QRP) during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).

On July 31, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its final rule for the skilled nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system (PPS) governing Medicare rates for federal fiscal year (FFY) 2021 (October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021). CMS projects that aggregate Medicare program payments to SNFs will increase by 2.2 percent, for FY 2021 compared to FY 2020.

HealthPRO Heritage, Mass Senior Care’s Clinical Quality Leader will be having a timely discussion to uncovers best practices for leveraging 1135 waivers. Key takeaways to include tactical and strategic considerations to drive your community's financial & clinical outcomes.

An op-ed, “The coronavirus quarantine problem for travelers and nursing homes,” authored by Simon Johnson, Dr. Sanjat Kanjilal, and Dr. Larissa Lucas was published in The Boston Globe this week. The authors of the op-ed continue to work closely with Mass Senior Care on a number of strategies and policies related to infection control, testing and PPE procurement.

Memorandum To: Mass Senior Care Members From: Tara M. Gregorio, President Re: COVID-19 Updates: PBJ Reporting: Staffing Data Can Include Hours Provided by State Clinical Swat Teams; REDCap Link for Survey and Additional Questions; New Participant Code for Tomorrow’s DPH Call Date: August 4, 2020 Payroll Based Journal Reporting: Staffing Data from National Guard Can Be Input In June, CMS ended the blanket waiver of the requirement for nursing homes to submit staffing data through the Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) System

Memorandum To: Mass Senior Care Members From: Tara M. Gregorio, President Re: COVID-19 Updates: DPH Extends Deadline for Reporting of Historical Data; DPH Updates Memo on Defining Aerosol Generating Procedures and Recommended PPE; Reminder for Weekly DPH Call; HHS Announces Three New Approaches to Securing Funding Date: August 4, 2020 DPH Extends Deadline for Reporting of Historical Data In response to a request by Mass Senior Care Association, yesterday the DPH released the following information regarding an extension of the

Memorandum To: Mass Senior Care Members From: Tara M. Gregorio, President Re: COVID-19 Updates: First Surveillance Testing Report Due Tomorrow; CHIA Voluntary Survey Date: July 30, 2020 Afternoon Edition Reminder: First Surveillance Testing Period Reporting Due July 31st by 12:00 PM As a reminder, data for the first staff surveillance testing period (July 23 – July 30) is due on Friday, July 31st by 12:00pm, even if your facility is on a bi-weekly testing regimen. To submit data for the

Memorandum To: Mass Senior Care Members From: Tara M. Gregorio, President Re: COVID-19 Updates: DPH Releases Revised Guidance Date: July 30, 2020 DPH Releases Revised Guidance on “Caring for Long-Term Care Residents during the COVID-19 Emergency” and “Allowing Non-Essential Personnel in Long-Term Care Facilities” Today, DPH released two memos related to care of long-term care residents during the COVID-19 Emergency. Caring for Long-Term Care Residents during the COVID-19 Emergency includes revisions to screening of employees upon re-entry to the building