The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) has issued Administrative Bulletin 17-11/Nursing Facility User Fee Update, which amends the Per Diem User Fee, effective July 1, 2017. Effective July 1, 2017 dates of service, the user fees have been reduced to the following: Facility Group Per Diem User Fee Effective July 1, 2017 Group 1 $20.40 Group 2 $2.04 Group 3 $2.04 Group 4 $0.00 The new user fee reflects EOHHS’ projection to generate $240 million for the

On July 26 th, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that Senate Republicans will delay a vote on the Senate’s Affordable Care Act replacement bill until after the July 4 th Congressional recess due to opposition from enough Republican Senators to block the bill from moving forward. The Senate’s bill, entitled the “Better Care Reconciliation Act”, was released last week. The Senate bill would have a devastating negative impact on the nursing facility provider community as the Medicaid funding

Mass Senior Care Association has partnered with our national association, American Health Care Association (AHCA) to help you meet the new Infection Preventionist specialized training requirement finalized by CMS in the Reform of Requirements of Participation for Long Term Care Facilities. This Infection Preventionist Specialized Training (IPCO) course provides education for healthcare professionals who seek to serve as Infection Preventionists. Individuals who complete the course will be trained to effectively implement and manage an Infection Prevention and Control Program at

Beginning the morning of June 30 th, the Executive Office of Elder Affairs will centralize the Elder Protective Services abuse report intake system (elder abuse hotline) to a single phone number, connecting the caller to a call center with specially trained intake workers here in Massachusetts. The 24/7 single phone number will simplify the process for elder abuse reporting. All calls made to 1-800-922-2275 (day or night, 7 days a week) will go directly to the Massachusetts-based call center, regardless

The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Review and Correct reports are available on demand in the CMS Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reporting (CASPER) application. Log into the CMS Network using your CMSNet user ID and password to access the “Welcome to the CMS QIES Systems for Providers” webpage, then select the CASPER Reporting link to locate your reports. These reports: Contain quality measure information at the facility level Allow providers to obtain aggregate performance for the

Massachusetts Senior Care Association’s 2017 Nursing Facility Employment Survey has been mailed out to Nursing Facility Administrators. Please complete the survey and return it to Mass Senior Care by Friday, June 30, 2017. Mass Senior Care member providers have traditionally used the results of this survey to help them assess their wage and benefit packages. The aggregate survey data also enable us to document the costs associated with staff recruitment and retention, health insurance coverage and other factors as we

Mass Senior Care Association has joined the Massachusetts Coalition for Elder Economic Security, a newly formed collaborative initiative of 25 organizations including advocates, health and research groups and, community and labor representatives to ensure economic stability and protection for Massachusetts seniors. On June 20 th, the Coalition on Elder Economic Security kicked off a legislative briefing hosted by Senator Barbara L’Italien, the new Chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs. The Coalition has reported alarming statistics that show 6

In response to concerns raised by a variety of business groups, health care providers and legislators, on June 20, 2017, Governor Baker proposed a comprehensive Medicaid Reform Plan which would significantly revise his original SFY 2018 budget provision that would have imposed a $2,000 per full time equivalent employee assessment if the employer did not meet certain health insurance contribution and uptake requirements. The Governor’s intent is that this Plan be considered during the ongoing Conference Committee deliberations for the

As noted in our June 19 th e-mail message to members, Mass Senior Care was informed earlier this week by Assistant Secretary for MassHealth Daniel Tsai that the agency will not make any hardship payments for May dates of service under its Cash Management Temporary Payment Delay, because of an unanticipated increase in the SFY 2017 budget shortfall. As you know, MassHealth last month had notified nursing facility providers via a message text that it will delay by approximately two

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 May 2017. This new file is meant to replace the updated 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 on the OIG’s website