Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare “Nursing homes play a unique dual role in the long-term care continuum, serving as a place where people receive needed health care and a place they call home. The 1986 Institute of Medicine report Improving the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes identified a range of…… Continue reading The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted the updated Technical Users’ Guide (35 pages) on April 5, 2022.  April 2022 Revisions – Quality Measure Rating Threshold changes Effective with the April 2022 refresh, CMS is implementing the planned, regular increases to the Quality Measure (QM) rating thresholds, increasing each rating threshold…… Continue reading Updated Care Compare Five-Star Technical Users’ Guide – April 2022

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare “COVID-19 vaccines help protect nursing home residents who are vulnerable to illness and death if they become infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Healthcare staff who are vaccinated also have a lower risk of getting COVID-19 or spreading the virus that causes the illness to…… Continue reading Implementing a Staff Vaccination Program in Your Nursing Home 

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On Wednesday, March 30, 2022, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra hosted a roundtable with stakeholders to discuss the nursing home reforms President Biden announced on February 18 and reiterated during his State of the Union address. The roundtable discussed nursing home staffing requirements, ideas…… Continue reading Readout of HHS Secretary Becerra’s Roundtable on Nursing Home Reforms

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare For the second time in March 2022, CMS has posted an updated Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Quick Reference Guide.  This version – 3.0 – is dated March 30, 2022. The only change from the previous version (v2.0) dated January 28, 2022, posted…… Continue reading SNF QRP Quick Reference Guide Updated Again

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted the March 2022 State-Level Health Inspection Cut Point Table on March 30, 2022. This document – Five Star Quality Rating System Technical Users’ Guide: State Level Health Inspection Cut Point Table – provides the data for the state-level cut points for the star ratings…… Continue reading Five-Star Quality Rating System: March 2022 State-Level Health Inspection Cut Point Table

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted 20 Nursing homes including rehab services Datasets on March 31, 2022: COVID-19 Vaccination Rates – State and National Averages … State and National averages for facility resident and healthcare personnel COVID-19 vaccination rates.COVID-19 Vaccination Rates – Provider Data … Current resident and healthcare…… Continue reading CMS Updates 20 Nursing Home Datasets

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Five Star Preview Reports will be available on March 25, 2022.To access these reports, select the CASPER Reporting link located on the CMS QIES Systems for Providers page. Once in the CASPER Reporting system, select the ‘Folders’ button, then select ‘My Inbox’ or the Inbox…… Continue reading Five-Star Preview Reports Available

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On Thursday, March 24, 2022, CMS is posting FR Doc. 2022-06214 in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is announcing an opportunity for the public to comment on CMS’ intention to collect information from the…… Continue reading MDS 3.0 v1.17.2 – PRA Collection of Information Notification

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The afternoon of Wednesday, March 23, 2022, the Iowa Department of Human Services posted INFORMATIONAL LETTER NO. 2326-MC-FFS.  The subject is: NF Day-Weighted Case Mix Index (CMI) Methodology.  In 2021, the Iowa Legislature directed Iowa Medicaid to evaluate the technical aspects of the case mix reimbursement…… Continue reading IA SNFs and NFs: NF Day-Weighted Case Mix Index (CMI) Methodology