Our national affiliate, American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), continues to develop educational resources on important long term care issues.  We wish to bring two of these resources to your attention:

• Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities:  CMS recently published a final rule to implement Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.  The rule outlines the responsibilities of all health providers that accept Medicare and/or Medicaid dollars.  This includes assisted living centers that participate in Medicaid waiver programs like Family Care.  AHCA/NCAL has developed two resources to help members understand the rule:

Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities Member Impact Summary and Table.pdf (ahcancal.org)

Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities FAQs.pdf    (ahcancal.org).  The FAQ’s specifically provide detail on Voyce, a language translation service that AHCA/NCAL is partnering with.

• A second resource pertains to dementia training through AHCA/NCAL’s CARES program.  WHCA/WiCAL members are AHCA/NCAL members.  As such, AHCA/NCAL offers individual discounts as well as facility-based site licenses.  For more information about CARES and about member discounts please review this background piece from AHCA/NCAL:

Exclusive AHCA/NCAL Member Savings on CARES^®  Dementia Trainings and Certifications  

Looking for something new to help meet your continuing education or dementia training requirements? CARES^® offers AHCA/NCAL members exclusive savings on all CARES^® dementia training and certification programs for long term care professionals and staff members. CARES^® is the only dementia care training to make extensive use of actual video footage of real residents and real staff members (no actors) for an authentic virtual training experience.

CARES online programs include:

• CARES® Dementia 5-Step Method™ 
• CARES® Dementia Safety Topics™
• CARES® Dementia-Related Behavior™
• CARES® Activities of Daily Living™
• CARES® End-of-Life Dementia Care™
• CARES® Serious Mental Illness™
• CARES® Elder Abuse Prevention™
• CARES Dementia Basics (In Spanish)
• CARES® Dementia 5-Step Method for Families™

The introductory course, CARES^®  Dementia 5-Step Method^™ online training and certification, is recognized by the Alzheimer’s Association^® for successfully incorporating the evidence-based Dementia Care Practice Recommendations in the following topic areas: Alzheimer’s and dementia, person-centered care, assessment and care planning, activities of daily living, and behaviors and communication.

CARES has also been proven to reduce the use of antipsychotics. Key to reducing off-label antipsychotic use is having staff specifically trained in alternative approach to dementia-related behavior.  CARES® trains your staff in the evidence-based CARES dementia 5-step method, a person-centered approach to dementia care, so that they know how to identify individual triggers, mitigate causes of behaviors, and intervene with non-pharmacological approaches that support each resident’s quality of life.

Exclusive AHCA/NCAL Member Savings

There are two great ways for AHCA/NCAL members to save. For individual registrations, use promo code AHCA100 at checkout and save $100 off regular registration prices. For site license  purchases, save even more with  the AHCA15 promo code and receive 15% off all site license purchase prices.

Test Drive CARES^®

View a free five-minute preview of each program here to get a better sense of what each training offers. For a more in-depth look at the CARES^®, view Module 1 (Meet Clara Jones – An introduction to Person-Centered Care) at no cost for AHCA/NCAL members. This free online training module is a great way to introduce new staff to person-centered dementia care in staff meetings or trainings.

CARES^® is easy to use, can be accessed from any computer, tablet, or mobile device, and can be started and stopped as often as users wish. Call AHCA/NCAL’s partner HCI at (952) 928-7722 or support@hcinteractive.com with any questions about the training programs, and remember to use the exclusive member promo codes AHCA100 or AHCA15 when ordering for tremendous savings.