Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare ON January 4, 2021, CMS issued a revised QSO-20-31-All … Revised COVID-19 Survey Activities, CARES Act Funding, Enhanced Enforcement for Infection Control deficiencies, and Quality Improvement Activities in Nursing Homes. The Memorandum Summary shows these overall updates (note the verbiage in red) to this now 29-page…… Continue reading CMS Revises Infection Control Surveys – Adds 5 Triggers

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Appendix B of the RAI User’s Manual was updated on December 31, 2020.  This Appendix provides the contact information for state RAI and MDS Automation Coordinators as well as RAI Coordinator Panel Members and Regional Office Contacts. CMS provided the specific changes via this 1-page document. …… Continue reading CMS Updates Appendix B of the RAI User’s Manual

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Late last week, CMS posted updates to 2 components of the survey process: #1 is a regulatory reference correction found in both the Word and PDF versions of CMS-20054.  These are found in the LTC Survey Pathways .zip file. #2 is also a regulatory reference correction…… Continue reading CMS Updates LTC Survey Process Documents

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The next CMS Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF)/Long Term Care (LTC) Open Door Forum scheduled for:   Date:  Thursday, December 17, 2020 Start Time:  2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Eastern Time (ET) Please dial-in at least 15 minutes before call start time. Conference Leaders: Todd Smith &…… Continue reading CMS SNF/LTC Open Door Forum – Thursday, December 17, 2020

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The December 2020 quarterly refresh of LTCH QRP is now available on LTCH Compare as well as the Long-term care hospitals web pages within Care Compare (CCXP) and Provider Data Catalog (PDC). The data for assessment-based measures are based on quality assessment data submitted by LTCHs…… Continue reading December 2020 Quarterly Refresh of LTCH QRP

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare In November 2020, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced an upcoming topic of investigation for the office.  (Bolding in next paragraph added by me.) The transfer or discharge of a resident initiated by a nursing home can be an unsafe and traumatic experience for the…… Continue reading Facility-Initiated Discharge in Nursing Homes – Upcoming OIG Investigation Topic

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Iowa DHS and IME issued INFORMATIONAL LETTER NO. 2196-MC-FFS on December 8, 2020. In response to the Federal Public Health Emergency (PHE), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released COVID 1135 Blanket Waiver on March 1, 2020, that included waiving 42 CFR 483.20 timeframe…… Continue reading Iowa LTC Providers: Minimum Data Set (MDS) / Medicaid Case Mix

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare December 4, 2020, CMS posted QSO 21-06-NH … Updates to the Nursing Home Compare Website and Five Star Quality Rating System.  This 3-page QSO memorandum provides updates on the Health Inspection and Quality Measure domains of the Five Star Quality Rating System, and the transition to…… Continue reading Updates to the Nursing Home Compare Website and Five Star Quality Rating System

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted updates to several survey process documents/folders on November 25, 2020: The Revision History document provides this synopsis of the updates: Briggs’ subscribers to the Survey Guide 1766 and 1766E will soon receive these updates.

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare MLN Matters Number: MM11992 was posted November 6, 2020 with same title as this blog. This MLN Matters Article is for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) and hospital swing bed providers billing Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) for services provided to Medicare beneficiaries.  This article informs you of…… Continue reading Updates to Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) Claims