The WHCA/WiCAL Seminar Series is a 10-part webinar program featuring hot-topic educational programming related to quality, regulatory, legal, reimbursement, staffing, and other key issues and...
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Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS)
released guidance enforcing their Interim Final Rule (IFR) issued November 5, 2021, mandating the vaccine in health care settings. This rule only applies to the 25 states not covered under the
injunction issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, including Wisconsin.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued a new set of
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the revised nursing home visitation guidelines, outlined in memo “
QSO-20-39-NH REVISED.”
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Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) updated its
website to withdraw the non-record keeping portions of the healthcare emergency temporary standards (ETS) issued in June. The ETS is no longer in effect, however, the record keeping requirements in the ETS will continue as they were adopted under another section of the OSHA Act.
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In 2016, 2018, and 2020, WHCA/WiCAL, along with a coalition of LTC provider associations, joined together to gather data on direct care staffing vacancies in assisted living and nursing homes. As you know, the previous three reports proved to be extremely effective in our advocacy efforts over the last three biennial budgets and helped secure rate increases for SNFs and a continuation of the Direct Care Workforce Funding for assisted living facilities. Wisconsin’s LTC provider associations are now conducting the survey again in an effort to keep our workforce crisis front and center for state legislators.
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AHCA/NCAL's webinar on vaccine mandates has been rescheduled to Friday, January 7 at 2:00 PM CST to avoid a conflict with the CMS and CDC National Stakeholder Call.
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Lisa Olson was recently named Wisconsin Medicaid Director following the retirement of former Director Jim Jones. Prior to her recent appointment, Olson served as Deputy Medicaid Director, and took over as Medicaid Director as of the start of the year.
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In late December, AHCA/NCAL led a
Coalition letter to the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on workforce supply related issues. In the letter, the Coalition noted that the U.S. currently has a labor shortage in many sectors, not the least of which is the health care industry. One issue is the significant delay in USCIS processing Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewals.
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The Advancing Excellence in Long-Term Care Collaborative, of which the American Health Care Association is a member, recently sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the rampant ‘price gouging’ by direct care staffing agencies, and to request FTC’s assistance to end this anticompetitive practice.
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Last week, the CDC
announced changes to their COVID-19 isolation and quarantine guidance for the general public, which will shorten both the isolation and quarantine periods based on new data regarding infectiousness and the Omicron variant.
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An important part of internal quality assurance and improvement is to know data about key aspects of your operations and how this data changes over time and how you compare to other assisted living communities. Members of WiCAL PEAL program are a part of the larger WCCEAL (Wisconsin Collaborative Coalition for Excellence in Assisted Living) initiative.
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WHCA/WiCAL is pleased to welcome new Business Partner, Ecolab.
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Six months into the 2021-23 State Budget, the Department of Health Services is projecting the Medicaid fund to finish the biennium with a surplus of $184.9 million in general purpose revenue, which is an increase from September's projection of a $39.4 million surplus.
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The Supreme Court
announced Wednesday evening that it has scheduled oral arguments on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate interim final rule (IFR) and OSHA's vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers on January 7.
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WHCA/WiCAL is proud to announce that the 2021 issue of our annual magazine,
Continuum, is now available!
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Have you trained CNAs since July 2020? If so, you are eligible for reimbursement through WisCaregiver Careers!
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The National Quality Award Program team will be hosting a full day virtual Bronze workshop to help interested applicants complete their 2022 Bronze application. This free event will take place Wednesday, January 12, 2022, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. CST. This workshop is designed to help applicants work through the application process in one day.
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During a live webinar on January 13, Wipfli consultants will provide insights on Wisconsin Medicaid’s transition to a Nursing Home Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) Acuity Specific Billing which is effective for dates of services on or after January 1, 2022.
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