It's clear that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has heard our concerns about the Phase 2 Requirements of Participation. The Survey and Certification Group (S&C) at CMS have issued two memos that further delay enforcement of provisions of the new requirements but falls short of the complete delay that we had sought. These memos indicate that CMS is delaying some enforcement provisions of the Phase 2 requirements, but CMS will proceed with implementing the new survey process beginning on November 28.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized the cancellation of the mandatory hip fracture and cardiac bundled payment models that were to be operated by the CMS Innovation Center and implemented changes to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) Model. These changes will offer greater flexibility and choice for hospitals in providing care to Medicare patients.
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The WHCA/WiCAL Political Action Committee is on pace to break fundraising records.
But we need your help to reach our 2017 goal.
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In November, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed the CNA Training Bill, which ensure that the State of Wisconsin could not require more than federal training standard for Certified Nursing Assistants.
Please help keep the momentum up for this legislation by contacting your State Senator!
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New payment models, the expansion of managed care, and regulatory changes have all had a significant impact on our profession. More change is coming, and our job is to help you prepare for that change.
The new information collected from this survey will be extremely important in advocacy in the near future and we want to ensure that Wisconsin has data included.
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Michael Wylie, Chair of the AHCA Board of Governors, issued this update on organizational goals and successes of our national association.
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Medicare Learning Network is hosting a conference call on the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care and QAPI.
During this call, learn how to work with physicians to ensure compliance with the new psychotropic medication prescribing requirements for long-term care facilities. Also, find out how nursing homes are putting the new Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) requirements into practice.
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The Wisconsin Health Care Association and the Wisconsin Center for Assisted Living is pleased to offer a full slate of timely and innovative professional development programs in the areas of Reimbursement, the 2nd Annual WHCA/WiCAL Quality Symposium, Quality Advancement Performance Improvement (QAPI) Workshops, and Survey Update Workshops.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Learning Network (MLN) held a call November 16, 2017 on the Skilled Nursing Facility Value Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Program Fiscal Year 2018 Final Rule. CMS subject matter experts reviewed how SNF VBP will affect Medicare’s payment to your SNF beginning October 2018.
This program offers Medicare incentive payments to SNFs under the SNF Prospective Payment System (PPS) and builds on previous quality improvement efforts such as Nursing Home Compare and SNF Quality Reporting Program.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the 2018 premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs in addition to the Medicare Part B outpatient therapy cap.
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Late last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated the provider section of the New Medicare Cards webpage by highlighting any new pieces of information
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Please join the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) and the American Assisted Living Nurses Association (AALNA) on December 5th from 2 - 3 pm Central, for the last webinar in the 2017 Caring Together series.
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Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an informational bulletin which provides guidance to states on strategies to design and implement payment arrangements that comply with the new Medicaid managed care payment provisions.
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The Division of Quality Assurance (DQA) has revised the following publications in accordance with federal long term care regulations...
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On Wednesday, November 1st, the Centers for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) released a State Medicaid Directors' Letter (SMDL) template for the submission of Section 1115 Research and Demonstration Waivers aimed at addressing the opioid abuse crisis. CMS is now offering a more flexible, streamlined approach to accelerate states’ ability to respond to the national opioid crisis while enhancing states’ monitoring and reporting of the impact of any changes implemented through these demonstrations.
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Kidde® has announced a recall of 37.8 million plastic-handled and push-button fire extinguishers in the US because they can clog, simply fail to activate during an emergency, or the nozzle can detach with enough force to be an impact hazard.
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WHCA/WiCAL is saddened to report the passing of Bob Mulder, long-time administrator of Mulder Health and was a Member of the WHCA Board of Directors from 2015-16. Bob was a tremendous advocate for long-term care and a friend of the WHCA.
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This week we will focus on Part 6 of the new survey procedure: Ongoing and Other Survey Activities.
Last week we focused on Part 6 related to facility task assignments, this week we continue Part 6 with triggered tasks. These triggered tasks are only completed if concerns are identified.
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A reminder to members that we are in the midst of implementation of two Medicare “pay for performance” programs applicable to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs): the SNF Quality Reporting Program and the SNF Value-Based Purchasing Program.
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Founded in 1999, Progressive Beginnings is a Certified Medicare/Medicaid Rehabilitation Agency providing Outpatient OT, PT and SLP services in Sheboygan, WI. In addition Progressive Beginnings provides Rehabilitation Management Services for SNF, LTAC, ALF and OP clinics in Wisconsin and Illinois.
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a motion to drop a False Claims Act lawsuit it had joined against HCR ManorCare in 2015. The whistleblower lawsuit had asserted that the provider submitted false claims for levels of rehabilitation services that weren't medically necessary in order to boost its reimbursements. Last month the judge struck an expert witness’ testimony and ordered DOJ to pay HCR ManorCare’s legal fees.
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