CareOne Newton celebrated Skilled Nursing Care Week with its 1st Community Day in celebration of National Skilled Nursing Care Week. Residents, family members and community neighbors enjoyed games, food and laughs.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be hosting a 2-day Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) in-person 'Train the Trainer' event for providers on July 31 and August 1, 2018, at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore.

The Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) has issued Hospital-Wide Adult All-Payer Readmissions in Massachusetts: SFY 2011-2016 updating previous CHIA reporting on the subject. Key Findings: The unplanned, all-payer readmission rate for Massachusetts acute care hospitals was 15.9% in SFY 2016, the same rate as in the previous year. The risk-standardized readmission rates for hospitals had more variability in 2016 compared to 2015, ranging from a low of 13.6% to a high of 18.1%. Medicare and Medicaid insured patients

Partners HealthCare will be accepting applications for participation in Year 6 of the Skilled Nursing Facility Collaborative Network beginning June 1, 2018 through June 30, 2018 at 5 PM. Participation in the Collaborative Network is an opportunity for skilled nursing facilities to join a bi-directional, quality-based collaborative emphasizing quality improvement and education. All facilities that are interested in participating in Year 6 of the Collaborative Network will be required to apply for inclusion. To indicate interest in applying to the

The Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) of Noncoverage Interactive Tutorial Educational Tool and the The Medicare Advance Written Notices of Noncoverage Booklet are available on the CMS MLN website.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted on its website updates to the following documents: New Long Term Care Survey Process and Slide Deck LTC Survey Pathways LTC Survey Procedure Guide LTC Interim Revisit Instructions

Nearly 200 nursing facility staff, residents and residents' family members took to the State House on Tuesday to deliver an urgent message that increased funding for frontline staff and resident care is immediately needed in order to meet the care needs of vulnerable nursing home residents who can no longer live safely in the community. The program at Advocacy Day featured Matt Salmon, Chairman of Mass Senior Care, Tara Gregorio, President of Mass Senior Care, Senate President Harriette Chandler and

The Massachusetts Senate has acted on a number of amendments related to nursing home care. We are pleased to report that the Senate adopted Senator Julian Cyr's EMAC Assessment Hardship Waiver, which directs the Department of Unemployment Assistance to develop a hardship waiver that may be approved for an employer experiencing a financial hardship due to its liability.