On July 28, 2017, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Division of Epidemiology and Immunization issued an Advisory to Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF) noting that the Division has received a number of recent reports of outbreaks of scabies occurring in LTCFs. The Advisory notes that Department staff is available to work with LTCFs on infection control procedures, including treatment recommendation, environmental sanitation in response to single cases of scabies as well as outbreaks 24/7 by calling (617) 983-6800. While

On July 31, 2017, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (“Mass Tech Collaborative”), on behalf of Massachusetts eHealth Institute (MeHI), issued a Request for Information for Sharing of Advanced Care Planning (ACP) Documents to solicit responses from interested parties in the field of capturing and sharing advanced care planning documents electronically. MeHI is working in collaboration with other stakeholders, including the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs and the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care (the Coalition), to examine architectures and technologies

On July 27, 2017, Governor Baker signed into law new protections for pregnant workers that would ban discrimination in the workplace and require employers to provide reasonable accommodations to workers before and after pregnancy. The law will take effect on April 1, 2018. The law, An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, makes it unlawful for an employer to refuse to employ or discharge from employment, an individual due to pregnancy or a condition related to said pregnancy

Governor Charlie Baker on August 1 st signed into law legislation that would establish a $200 million, temporary two-year employer health contribution program in State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2018, along with a reduction in a planned unemployment insurance rate hike. The legislature earlier had rejected the Governor's request to include in his re-filed legislation a series of Medicaid health reforms designed to manage the MassHealth program to make it sustainable over the long term, believing that the proposed reforms would

On Wednesday afternoon the Senate again rejected, on a vote of 45-55, a proposal to repeal significant portions of the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. Seven Republican Senators bucked their leadership and voted with all of the Senate Democrats in rejecting an amendment that would have repealed most of the heath care law with a two-year delay to develop a replacement plan. Similar legislation passed both chambers on reconciliation instructions in 2015, but was vetoed by then-President Obama. It

On July 21, 2017, UMass, the agent EOHHS has contracted with to manage the SFY 2017 Direct Care Add On web-based application and the website URL for Compliance Form, issued an e-mail notification to nursing homes providing guidance in regard to the Final Compliance filing schedule. Please note that the memo indicates that the filing deadline is September 30 th. UMass notes that it expects the final form will be very similar to the Interim Form and that it will

The Legislature yesterday returned to Governor Charlie Baker separate legislation that would establish a $200 million, temporary two-year employer health contribution program in State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2018, along with a reduction in a planned unemployment insurance rate hike. The legislature rejected the Governor’s request to include in its re-filed legislation a series of Medicaid health reforms designed to manage the MassHealth program to make it sustainable over the long term, believing that the proposed reforms would have had a

Thank you for the tremendous support in Mass Senior Care’s recent Legislative Action Alert urging lawmakers to override Governor Charlie Baker’s veto of $7.5 million in Medicaid funding for nursing home care. Mass Senior Care has been in contact with legislative leaders, and has learned the veto override vote on our item will likely be on the docket for September. In order to override the Governor’s veto, both members of the Senate and the House of Representatives will need to

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a nationwide quality improvement initiative aimed at assessing and strengthening current infection control capacity and competency in Massachusetts health care facilities. DPH is currently seeking LTCFs to participate in the non-regulatory assessment of their infection prevention program and practices. Participation in this quality improvement initiative is voluntary and this initiative is not part of DPH’s health care facility licensure regulations. A

CareOne at Brookline welcomed local officials, staff, residents, families, and community members to a community barbecue at St. Mark's Park on July 13 th. Nearly 300 guests celebrated the summer weather with food, refreshments and raffle prizes. Pictured below is Chad Waterman, Administrator at CareOne Brookline and Breanna Wu, Volunteer.