The National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) this week revealed “Joyful Moments” as this year’s theme for National Assisted Living Week
®. The annual, national observance – officially sponsored by First Quality in 2022 – provides a unique opportunity for residents, their loved ones, staff, volunteers, and local communities to celebrate the individuals who live and work in assisted living and learn more about this sector of long term care.
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The American Health Care Association/ National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) is pleased to announce the launch of the
Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP). Ten individuals will be selected to participate in the two-year program. Applications will be accepted through June 9, 2022.
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The AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program recently announced that the
2023 application year is now open. For the first time, application packets are available three months earlier than previous years so that skilled nursing care centers and assisted living communities can begin to prepare.
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Skilled nursing facilities that participate in the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program (QRP) must have the weekly health care personnel COVID-19 vaccination summary data entered into the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)
by May 16, 2022 for the 2021 Quarter 4 (October 1 – December 31, 2021).
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This week, the first semi-annual edition of Your Resident Profile for 2022 was released for skilled nursing members. This edition has resident days and episodes for clinical conditions, such as diabetes and schizophrenia, as well as acuity, such as IV feeding and ventilator use.
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Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a workforce-related
study entitled,
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Hospital and Outpatient Clinician Workforce: Challenges and Policy Responses.
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The AHCA/NCAL Quality Improvement Committee is seeking nominations for the 2022
Mary K. Ousley Champion of Quality Award. This award recognizes an individual that has made significant national contributions to advancing quality performance in long term and/or post-acute care.
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The Wisconsin Caregiver Project was originally developed in 2006 by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), Division of Quality Assurance (DQA), in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO), Center for Community Development, Engagement and Training (CCDET) to help prevent abuse and neglect by caregivers in long-term care settings. Since that time, DQA and UWO CCDET have continued to collaborate to develop hundreds of hours of curriculum and provide thousands of hours of training to support the development of caregivers, supervisors and managers across the state.
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On Monday, April 11th, CMS released the proposed rule,
FY 2023 Skilled Nursing Facility (SNFs) Prospective Payment System Rate Update and Quality Reporting Requirements (CMS-1765). Due to the proposed parity adjustment, CMS estimates that the net market basket update would decrease Medicare SNF payments by approximately $320 million.
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On Thursday, April 7, CMS issued
QSO-22-15-NH & NLTC & LSC - Update to COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Waivers for Specific Providers. The memo announced that CMS is ending some (not all) COVID-related 1135 waivers, including federal waivers which allowed for the creation of Emergency and Temporary Nurse Aide Training Programs here in Wisconsin. These employment and training flexibilities will end 60 days from the publication of
QSO-22-15-NH & NLTC & LSC.
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During the past two years, the pandemic has forced us to focus on the infection control measures surrounding the pandemic. As we move forward, the basics of a comprehensive Infection Control program may need to be rebooted. This program will review elements of a comprehensive Infection Prevention and Control program. Requirements for antibiotic stewardship will also be reviewed as well as methods to track medications prescribed to treat pathogens. Various tools & resources will be shared as well as at least one in electronic format.
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Join AHCA/NCAL for a four-part interactive workshop and get all of your questions answered by their Quality Award knowledge experts.
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Wisconsin continues to receive allocations of the COVID-19 oral antivirals Paxlovid and Lagevrio (molnupiravir). Long-term care residents continue to be at risk of serious illness from COVID-19, it is strongly recommended that facilities connect them to one of these treatments authorized for use by the Food and Drug Administration. If prescribed and then taken within five days of symptom onset, these medications substantially decrease the likelihood of serious illness and death. In particular, in clinical trials, Paxlovid showed an 88% decrease in severe illness and death.
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Hear from Herzing University’s Lisa Carr about ways to creatively attract and retain employees. The webinar will discuss best practices in collaborating with community-based organizations, attracting diverse new talent, building an internal structure to support talent growth and finding funding mechanisms to achieve organizational goals.
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