Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated its life safety and emergency preparedness regulations for health care facilities to improve protections for individuals enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid, including those residing in long-term care facilities (nursing homes). The updates expanded requirements related…… Continue reading Georgia Could Better Ensure That Nursing Homes Comply With Federal Requirements for Life Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Infection Control

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare In follow-up to the DMAS bulletin Minimum Data Set (MDS) changes effective October 1, 2023, we are sharing a brief Q&A document to help you use the Optional State Assessment (OSA) to generate a Virginia Medicaid RUG-IV billing code for DMAS claims payment.  The Q&A Document for Virginia OSA was…… Continue reading Virginia OSA New Q&A Document and Free OSA Training

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The PDF file labeled “MDS3.0RAIManualv1.18.11R.Errata.September.8.2023” is now available in the Downloads section on the Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) Manual page. The errata document contains revisions to pages in Chapter 4 of the MDS 3.0 RAI Manual version (v)1.18.11R that better align the Care…… Continue reading MDS 3.0 RAI Manual v1.18.11R Errata Document Posted

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Quality Measure Calculations and Reporting User’s Manual Version 5.0, Change Table, Risk Adjustment Appendix File, Imputation Appendix File, and Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCC) to International Classification of Diseases (ICD) -10 Crosswalks are now available. These documents serve…… Continue reading SNF QRP Quality Measure Calculations and Reporting User’s Manual V5.0 and Accompanying Documents Now Available

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare This week (week of September 5, 2023), CMS is officially launching its updated homepages. You can preview the beta website for the Nursing Home Resource Center here as well as make comments on what you see. Scroll down the page to find these resources and links:…… Continue reading Welcome to the Nursing Home Resource Center! 

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Although most nursing homes met Federal emergency preparedness requirements, an estimated 77 percent reported challenges with preparedness activities intended to ensure that resident care needs are met during an emergency. The most frequently cited concerns among nursing homes were ensuring proper staffing during emergencies and transporting…… Continue reading Nursing Homes Reported Wide-Ranging Challenges Preparing for Public Health Emergencies and Natural Disasters

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare As expected, HHS announced on Friday, September 1, 2023, its minimum staffing proposal.  The expectation fulfilled CMS’ practice of “big-ticket” announcements immediately prior to a holiday and a few days after yet another premature posting of a research study on the same topic. How fitting that…… Continue reading HHS Proposes Minimum Staffing Standards to Enhance Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The title of this blog is the opening statement in the Description of Fall-Related Transfers in the Nursing Facility: Findings From the OPTIMISTIC Project abstract published in the Annals of Long-Term Care. The Abstract continues with: “Using data from the Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 and…… Continue reading Falls Are Leading Cause for Transfer of LTC Residents to ED and Hospital

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted the August 2023 Five-Star State-Level Cut Point Tables. 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 included in the health…… Continue reading Five-Star State-Level Cut Point Tables for August 2023