Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Last Friday, May 1, 2020, I posted a brief blog on the second Interim Final Rule issued by CMS.  CMS-5531-IFC at this location is the unpublished PDF version.  The official IFC is scheduled for publication on May 8, 2020 in the Federal Register with 292…… Continue reading Additional Policy and Regulatory Revisions in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and Delay of Certain Reporting Requirements for the SNF QRP

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Last week, 3 members of Congress – Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Senate Aging Committees; Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform…… Continue reading Assisted Living: Have You Seen This Letter from Congress? Response Needed Before May 8, 2020

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On April 30, 2020, “CMS announced a new independent Commission that will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the nursing home response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Commission will provide independent recommendations to the contractor to review and report to CMS to help…… Continue reading Independent Commission to Address Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare If you’ve been following this week’s COVID-19 reporting module and the Interim Final Rule blogs, you’ve heard about the National Healthcare Safety Network and the requirement to report COVID-19 infections for residents and staff, etc.  You may have even tried to log in to yesterday…… Continue reading Upcoming NHSN Webinars on the LTCF COVID-19 Module for Reporting

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Late in the afternoon of April 30, 2020, CMS issued the Interim Final Rule.  This is a must-read so sit down and get started! “The policies in this IFC are applicable beginning on March 1, 2020, or January 27, 2020, except as further described in…… Continue reading CMS Issues Interim Final Rule

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare If you’re a visual learner like me, you’ll appreciate this COVID-19 USA Heat Map.  (I’ve added the bolding to verbiage in the next paragraph.) “The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine represent pharmacists, medical directors and health care providers and professionals in the skilled…… Continue reading COVID-19 USA Heat Map – ASCP and AMDA

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Where to Turn for Help is the title of the AHCA/NCAL guidance issued April 16, 2020.  (Sorry I missed this earlier!) “It is clear that COVID-19 is especially threatening to residents in long term care settings.  Most providers do not have access to the adequate…… Continue reading Where to Turn for Help

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CDC’s NHSN (National Healthcare Safety Network) provides healthcare facilities, such as long-term care facilities (LTCF) with a customized system to track infections and prevention process measures in a systematic way. Tracking this information allows facilities to identify problems, improve care, and determine progress toward facility…… Continue reading COVID-19 Module: System to Track Infections and Prevention Process Measures

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Back on March 18, 2020 (it seems like a year ago doesn’t it!), I blogged about the great resources available on the AMDA website.  One of those resources was updated a couple of days ago – Active Screening of Residents.  More common and less common…… Continue reading Updated Active Screening of Residents – AMDA/PALTC

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Today, Friday, April 24, 2020 is the end of a long business work week but not for healthcare as that continues every single day.  This blog is another digest of the continuous flow of information related to COVID-19 in the past couple of days.  Thank…… Continue reading Updated COVID-19 Information