Bureau of Nursing Home Resident Care – Quarterly Associations Meeting
On Thursday, June 18th, staff from WHCA/WiCAL joined fellow nursing home sector stakeholders for our monthly call with the Bureau of Nursing Home Resident Care (BNHRC) and Division of Quality Assurance (DQA) leadership on updates and forthcoming issues. Here is a summary of the issues we heard from the Bureau.
From Jenny Kraftcheck with the Bureau of Education Services and Technology (BEST) – We heard that as of 6/18/26 the 2025 Wisconsin Act 115 (Next of Kin) law, has been used 5 times in Wisconsin, in Brown, Douglas, and Waupaca Counties.
Jenny also shared that the Next of Kin process is allowed under Appendix PP under F551, in that decision allowable under state law is allowed under the federal regulations. The Next of Kin law falls within this framework and can be used in skilled nursing facilities.
From Jessica Radtke –
We received an update on nursing home forums. The in-person forums in April received an average of 70 attendees, except for the Southern Region which was about 45. Moving forward BNHRC will host 1 round of in-person forums per year, and 3 statewide virtual forums, these will be split up quarterly throughout the year.
The Risk Based Survey Pilot is coming to an end on June 30th. During the pilot, the state conducted more than 20 Risk Based Surveys, and feedback from both providers and surveyors has been positive. The Bureau is expecting CMS to continue and to expand Risk Based Surveys to more states, however an official notice of that decision has yet to be submitted.
On July 1st, the Southeastern Region (SERO) will transition to EPOC, bringing the entire state under the EPOC process. Providers must enroll and complete the enrollment process. This is a required process from BHNRC and is not optional. Facilities which fail to complete the enrollment process will be unable to receive a Statement of Deficiency (SOD) and will be unable to submit a Plan of Correction (POC) without EPOC. If you have questions or are having issues enrolling in EPOC, please connect with your RFOD or with Eric at WHCA/WiCAL to assist.
Psychotropic Stewardship Steering Committee, a joint effort from BHNRC and provider representatives. There will be a number of discussions and presentations on this topic at FOCUS 2026.
NHA & DON Changes in 2026
There have been 118 NHA Changes in 2026 so far, with 42 acting NHAs currently serving. There have been 153 DON changes in 2026 so far.
An important note that these numbers do not reflect temporary changes, like extended leaves, which would result in 2 changes. Additionally, the numbers do not account for an NHA/DON leaving one Wisconsin facility and moving to another. WHCA/WiCAL will continue to work for more complete data to better understand turnover of these key SNF leadership positions.
