Mass Senior Care Association members can register for a new education program designed to help skilled nursing facilities succeed under the new CMS value based purchasing payment program (SNF VBP) that took effect Monday, October 1, 2018. The course ( Understanding SNF VBP in Detail) contains six modules that provide an in-depth description of each feature of the SNF VBP program along with helpful tools, documents, and primary source references to the program. This new training program is intended for

On Wednesday, October 24, 2018, CMS released new data on the quality of care delivered in skilled nursing facilities by adding the following five SNF QRP measures to Nursing Home Compare: Assessment-based measures: Percent of SNF residents that develop new or worsened pressure ulcers Percentage of SNF residents whose functional abilities were assessed and functional goals were included in their treatment plan Percentage of SNF patients who experience one or more falls with major injury during their SNF stay Claims-based

Mass Senior Care Association was saddened to learn of the recent death of Gerald “Jerry” Schuster, 89, founder of Continental Wingate Co. Inc, the holding company for Wingate Healthcare. In 1965, Mr. Schuster founded the holding company specializing in financial services, real estate development, property management, and healthcare. Under the leadership and direction of his son, Scott, Wingate Healthcare has developed into a regional provider of skilled nursing and supportive care to seniors in residential settings in Massachusetts and New

Over the last year, Mass Senior Care members have actively participated in on-going discussions with MassHealth regarding the new PASRR 1 form, which will go into effect on Monday, November 5, 2018. While many of Mass Senior Care’s recommendations were included in the revised form, we continue to work with MassHealth and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation and that, importantly, facilities have adequate information from acute care hospitals to properly complete PASRR 1 Form. In their October 19th

Mass Senior Care offered testimony on the Department of Public Health’s proposed amendments to Determination of Need (DoN) regulations: · Grandfathering of Unimplemented DoNs – in 2017 the Department indicated in a memorandum to the Public Health Council that the new DoN regulations would have no impact on previously issued DoNs. We believe that it is critical to have this grandfather protection be codified in the regulation. · Community-Based Health Initiative (CHI) – We continue to urge the Department to

The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released its updated list which reflects all OIG exclusions and reinstatement actions up to, and including, those taken in September 2018. This new file is meant to replace the updated List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) database file available for download last month. Individuals and entities that have been reinstated to the federal health care programs are not included in this file. The updated files are posted