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January 28, 2021

State Assembly Further Modifies COVID-19 Relief Legislation - What It Could Mean for LTC

On Thursday, January 7, the Wisconsin State Assembly on a party-line vote passed Assembly Bill 1, COVID-19 relief legislation. Governor Evers immediately indicated he would veto the bill. As a result, on January 12, Senate Republicans modified the bill in a manner which earned the Governor's support. The Senate's amended version passed with wide bipartisan support, 29-2. However, Republican leaders in the Assembly altered the bill and passed it on a party-line vote on Tuesday, January 26, sending the bill back to the Senate. The Assembly's changes are not favorable to LTC.
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What You Need to Know: Recent Meeting with DQA

WHCA/WiCAL staff meets regularly with leadership from the Division of Quality Assurance. Last week, staff and DQA discussed COVID-19 vaccine clinics, IIDR/IDR, restart of recertification surveys, and surveyor testing and vaccination.
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ahcancalED Releases New Training: Person Centered Care in a PDPM World

AHCA/NCAL has released a new four-module webinar series on ahcancalED that trains staff about how to deliver person centered care under the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM). Person Centered Care in a PDPM World is built to train senior staff about delivering short-stay post-acute person-centered care and position them to then train facility staff.
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Cultivating LTC Leaders Webinar Series: Mastering the Long-Term Care Survey Process Part 2: Survey Success

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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Executive Order Issued to Protect Worker Safety and Health

​President Biden issued an Executive Order on protecting worker health and safety. This order includes direction for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue revised guidance on COVID-19, to consider whether any emergency temporary standards on COVID-19 will need to be issued, to review enforcement efforts around COVID-19, and outreach to industries hit hardest by COVID-19.
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Future COVID-19 Vaccine Eligible Groups

On Tuesday, the Department of Health Services announced future groups that will be eligible for vaccine. These populations will tentatively be eligible beginning March 1, though the start date is dependent on the vaccine supply from the federal government.
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HHS Opens PRF Reporting Portal for Registration

T​he 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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How to Request COVID-19 BinaxNOW Point of Care Antigen Tests and Molecular

Frequent testing and testing at symptom onset is an effective way of detecting the presence of COVID-19 early, slowing the spread in our long term care facilities. The Department of Health Services (DHS) recently announced an increase in its support of COVID-19 testing in nursing homes and Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs) to include BinaxNOW point of care antigen tests.
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Recommendations for TB Testing with COVID-19 Vaccination for Health Care Personnel and Patients Entering Care Facilities

The COVID-19 vaccination is an important tool to help stop the pandemic, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends health care personnel be among those offered the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines.  As the U.S. COVID-19 vaccination program continues, some may have questions about the interaction between new COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and tests used for tuberculosis (TB) infection.
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Reporting Possible Adverse Events Post-Vaccination to the CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring COVID-19 vaccine safety through several robust monitoring systems. Long term care facilities play a key role in supporting the CDC and FDA’s approach to safety monitoring by reporting possible side effects. 
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