CMS, through the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs), recently mailed letters to all Medicare Fee-For-Service providers about their work to assign new numbers (known as Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers or MBIs) and issue new Medicare cards to all people with Medicare beginning in April 2018. CMS‘s top priorities are to make sure: Your Medicare patients have continuous access to care. You have the tools and information you need for a smooth transition. Starting in June 2018, you can look up your patients’

Congress is now expected to move on to its next legislative priority of overhauling the tax code through the Reconciliation process in the new federal fiscal year which begins on October 1 st. Though Republican leadership maintains that ‘repeal and replace’ is still a legislative priority, it is not clear that it will aggressively pursue this goal in the upcoming federal fiscal year. Earlier this week Senate Republican leadership, lacking the votes to enact the Graham-Cassidy bill that would have

Mass Senior Care President Tara Gregorio is urging the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation to join other members of Congress in asking the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to delay Phase II of the Requirements of Participation (RoP). Mass Senior Care told lawmakers that Phase II of implementation should be delayed to allow skilled nursing facilities sufficient time to comply with the changes. While many of the provisions included in the RoP are well intended, taken together, they represent a

Yesterday, the State Senate unanimously voted to override Governor Charlie Baker's veto of $7.5 million in Medicaid nursing facility funding. Thank you to Mass Senior Care members for your tremendous advocacy effort and participating in our ongoing Action Alerts. Please thank your state senator for their continued support, and for restoring funding for quality nursing facility care.

We extend our deepest condolences to the family of Morrill Stone Ring, Jr., RN, past president (1951 to 1952) of the Massachusetts Federation of Nursing Homes (now know as Mass Senior Care Association) who passed away peacefully at 92 years young on August 26, 2017. Morrill was a skilled innovative leader who served our industry with great distinction. Both he and his father Morrill Stone Ring, Sr., (also a past president -1953-1954), were two of the founding fathers of the

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has released the MDPH Recommendations and Resources for the Control of Influenza and Pneumococcal Disease, 2017-2018. Like previous years, the advisory has a section added which includes the latest recommendations for use of PCV13 followed by PPSV23 in those >65 years of age. This year there are no major changes to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Recommendations for Influenza Vaccine for the 2017-2018 season, also attached. You may find the Summary of

Long term care providers and our entire profession join in expressing our deepest sympathy to the families of the residents who lost their lives at one location in Florida. The investigation into this tragic event is ongoing and it is clear that this is an isolated incident and is not indicative of the overall emergency response efforts across the long term care profession. Massachusetts is amongst the leaders in the country in our ability to provide mutual aid to long

Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy’s have introduced legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which would have a devastating negative impact on the nursing home provider community. The American Health Care Association (AHCA/NCAL), is asking nursing facility providers to contact members of the U.S. Congress to ask that they reject this proposal. Please participate in AHCA’s online grassroots by clicking here: Care Advocacy resource. The Graham-Cassidy bill is a threat because it would significantly reduce the amount

On September 20 th, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services issued a Notice of Proposed Agency Action which would update Medicaid nursing facility rates, effective October 1, 2017. The regulation would make the following changes to current rates: Re-authorizes the $35.5 million direct care staff payments to provide for 3 lump sum payments to providers to be made in October 2017, January 2018 and April 2018. This change is being proposed in order to assist providers with budgeting

The Senate is expected to act on Governor Charlie Baker’s SFY 2018 budget vetoes beginning next week. Mass Senior Care will be asking members, staff, residents, and families to call their State Senators to override the Governor’s veto of $7.5 million contained in line item 4000-0641 for Medicaid nursing facility funding. Two-thirds of the Senate will need to vote in favor of the $7.5 million in order to successfully override the Governor's veto. Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly