On Wednesday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the Oath of Office in an inauguration ceremony in front of the U.S. Capitol, making Biden the 46th President of the United States and Harris the first female Vice President of the United States.
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Earlier this week, it was announced that Department of Health Services (DHS) Secretary-designee Andrea Palm was nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Biden Administration. She departed DHS to undertake this opportunity on Wednesday.
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The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) launched the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Reporting Portal. The portal is only open for providers to set up user accounts and register to submit reports. In the updated PRF Reporting requirements (click here), HHS indicates reporting is delayed until further notice. No date is provided in the PRF Reporting FAQs.
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This week, two legislative committees held public hearings on a series of legislation related to COVID-19 vaccination. Committees in the State Assembly and State Senate held separate hearings on several bills, ranging from proscriptive distribution plan to prohibition on vaccination mandates.
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CMS recently announced the use of CMP funds has expanded to purchase any of the following for the purposes of in-person visitation: outdoor furniture, heating units with appropriate venting, lighting or electrical systems properly grounded, and infrared temperature scanners.
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The Department of Health Services (DHS) Bureau of Assisted Living (BAL) requires all regulated assisted living providers to submit biennial/annual reports and license/certification continuations using the e-renewal program.
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The next session of the Cultivating LTC Leaders webinar series, entitled Mastering the Long-Term Care Survey Process Part 2: Survey Success, will be held on February 3, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. and will go over the legal aspects of the statement of deficiency, enforcement remedies, writing an effective plan of correction, challenging and correcting deficiencies, IDR/IIDR, and the administrative law hearing process.
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As COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out to skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities across the country, providers are working hard to educate their staff and residents about the safety and benefits of the vaccine.
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The CDC and OSHA recommend the use of a fit-tested N95 respirator by healthcare personnel caring for residents suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 to assist in controlling the spread among long-term care populations. In conjunction with the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene (WSLH), the Department of Health Services (DHS) will be providing respiratory protection resources for assisted living facilities (ALF), including instructional videos on Respiratory Protection Programs and fit testing, a pre-fit test checklist, and other training webinars.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a memo on its intentions to update the Survey and Quality domains of Five-Star with the January 27, 2021 refresh of Nursing Home Compare data.
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Due to safety concerns, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) determined that special voting deputies (SVDs) will not be dispatched to care facilities to administer voting for the February 16, 2021, Spring Primary.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last year provided updated clarifications to SNF Medicare Part A billing guidance when applying COVID-19 coverage waivers in MLN Matters Article SE20011. Since then, some providers have received denials that have been identified as provider data entry errors.
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Senior housing occupancy decreased 1.3 percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 80.7 percent, a record low, according to new data from NIC MAP® Data Service (NIC MAP) provided by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC).
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Although they provide 80% to 90% of all direct patient care, nurse aides are often not fully prepared to meet the sometimes-complex mental health needs of the residents they care for.
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has announced that over 691,969 patient courses of COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) have been allocated to over 4,097 sites across the country.
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New ICD-10 codes were recently introduced off-cycle for COVID-19 effective January 1, 2021, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted updated coding guidance when there was a COVID-related condition. Additionally, CMS also updated the PDPM Mappings file to incorporate the newly introduced codes. Some of the new COVID-19 related codes map to RTP and cannot be used as primary reason for SNF stay in item I0020B of the MDS.
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HHS has rescinded its prior requirement that SNFs report COVID-19 point-of-care test results to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), which had been previously required. This requirement has now been removed.
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Last week, Mary Bauer and Lisa Sciolaro from the Eau Claire OSHA office presented a webinar entitled "OSHA COVID-19 Policies and Long-Term Care." Staff members of long-term care facilities have been hit particularly hard with COVID-19. OSHA has issued citations long term care facilities when workers are not protected from COVID-19. The majority of the citations address respiratory protection and recordkeeping. This webinar will discuss, in detail, the items that are being evaluated during inspections and cited as a result.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated its guidance on antigen testing in long term care facilities.
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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reminds employers the agency is collecting calendar year 2020 Form 300A data due by March 2, 2021. Per OSHA, employers have an obligation to report and record work-related COVID-19 cases.
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The Wisconsin Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine's (WAMD) membership renewal is now open for 2021.
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