Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS and CDC held a Nursing Home Call late in the day on Tuesday, September 8, 2020.  I recorded the call as the speakers were CMS Administrator Seema Verma, Admiral Brent Giroir and Dr. Robert Redfield (CDC) – all members of the White House COVID-19 Task…… Continue reading COVID-19 Nursing Home Call – Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted the most recent data for positive COVID-19 test rates in U.S. counties.  The date of this posting is September 8, 2020 for the week ending September 2nd.  Providers should use this data set for staff testing going forward until the next updated data…… Continue reading CMS Posts Updated COVID-19 Positivity Test Rates

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare COVID-19 has caused major life disruptions. In our lifetime, we have never dealt with so many variables impacting ourselves and our families. For residents of long-term care facilities, restrictions have been imposed on visitation and on some daily activities.  For family caregivers, it’s important to take…… Continue reading Taking Care of You

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare COVID-19: Optimizing Healthcare Protective Equipment and Supplies There has been a large increase in the need for healthcare personal protective equipment (PPE) and specialty supplies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase in demand has led to shortages in PPE and changes in how PPE is…… Continue reading COVID-19: Optimizing Healthcare Protective Equipment and Supplies (Webinar)

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS updated the COVID-19 Focused Survey for Nursing Homes on August 25, 2020.  I encourage you to access a complimentary copy of this survey tool and audit your facility’s policies and procedures as well as clinical practices to prepare for such a survey as well as…… Continue reading Updated COVID-19 Focused Survey for Nursing Homes

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The purpose of the tip sheet is to help providers understand the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) public reporting strategy for the quality reporting program (QRP) to account for CMS quality data submissions that were optional and excepted from public reporting due to the…… Continue reading QRP COVID-19 Public Reporting Tip Sheets

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare September 3, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released their monthly update of data that provides a snapshot of the impact of COVID-19 on the Medicare population. The updated data show over 773,000 COVID-19 cases among the Medicare population and nearly 215,000 COVID-19…… Continue reading CMS Updates Medicare COVID-19 Snapshot

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Data reported by nursing homes to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) system COVID-19 Long Term Care Facility Module, including Resident Impact, Facility Capacity, Staff & Personnel, and Supplies & Personal Protective Equipment, and Ventilator Capacity and Supplies Data Elements for week ending August 23,…… Continue reading COVID-19 Submitted Data as of Week Ending: 08/23/2020

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Please join Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma and Administration officials for a National Nursing Home COVID-19 Call on Tuesday, September 8th from 6:30 – 7:30 PM Eastern. Speakers: Seema Verma, Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)Robert R. Redfield, MD, Director,…… Continue reading National Nursing Home COVID-19 Call on Tuesday, September 8th

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On August 31, 2020, HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) announced Guidance for PREP Act Coverage for COVID-19 Screening Tests at Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Facilities, Long-Term-Care Facilities, and other Congregate Facilities.  This extends coverage under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act)…… Continue reading Guidance for PREP Act Coverage for COVID-19 Screening Tests – NH/AL/LTC