Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The subtitle for this Press Release, released August 23, 2023, is Nearly 450,000 Residents At Risk Of Displacement Under Federal Staffing Mandate. ​​WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), representing more than 14,000 nursing homes and other long term…… Continue reading New Report Finds Access To Nursing Home Care A Growing Crisis

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Effective August 21, 2023, MDS 3.0 Frequency data will be available from a new location on the data.cms.gov website (https://data.cms.gov/quality-of-care/minimum-data-set-frequency). This new website replaces the previous MDS 3.0 Frequency Report webpage which was decommissioned on August 1, 2023. Users will find very similar information on this new…… Continue reading New MDS 3.0 Frequency Report Website

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare We’re hearing a lot these days about health equity.  Going forward, we’ll become much more familiar with this term and weave health equity into our professional practices.  Telligen has a landing page that will provide you with great information: Health Equity – Your one-stop shop for…… Continue reading Health Equity Resources

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On Tuesday, August 15, 2023 CMS posted this notification regarding the OSA: The Optional State Assessment (OSA) Item Set and OSA Manual have been updated, and the updated versions are now available in the Downloads section on the Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI)…… Continue reading UPDATED: Optional State Assessment (OSA) Item Set and OSA Manual

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Nurse aides working during the waiver, from March 2020 to May 11, 2023, have until Sept. 10, 2023, to complete training and testing. Start taking steps now to take the Nurse Aide Knowledge and Skills Test and earn a spot on the Nurse Aide Registry to…… Continue reading MN: Don’t Let Summer End Without Taking the Nurse Aides Test by Sept. 10 Deadline to Keep Working

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted this notification at 4:10pm on Monday, August 14, 2023: If you’re wondering what happened “earlier” yesterday, see this blog.

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has just posted the FINAL MDS 3.0 RAI User’s Manual, v1.18.11 – effective October 1, 2023 – here.  It’s 1706 pages in length. August 14, 2023 NOW AVAILABLE: Final MDS 3.0 RAI User’s Manual version 1.18.11 The final Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Resident Assessment…… Continue reading BREAKING NEWS: FINAL MDS 3.0 RAI User’s Manual – v1.18.11 – Posted

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare HCPCS Codes Used for Skilled Nursing Facility Consolidated: October 2023 Update … MLN Matters Number: MM13299was posted August 3, 2023. CMS periodically updates the lists of HCPCS codes excluded from the CB provision of the SNF PPS. We may pay providers, other than SNFs, for services…… Continue reading HCPCS Codes Used for Skilled Nursing Facility Consolidated Billing Enforcement: October 2023 Update

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS provided notifications to Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) and non-Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Swing Beds (SBs) that were determined to be out of compliance with SNF Quality Reporting Program (QRP) requirements for calendar year (CY) 2022, which will affect their fiscal year (FY) 2024 Annual Payment Update (APU). Non-compliance…… Continue reading Reminder … SNF Quality Reporting Program: Non-Compliance Notifications

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Sharing the following on behalf of the Department of Health:… Dear Employers of Nursing Assistants: GOOD NEWS! We have worked to streamline skills testing for your nursing assistant students and employees: On August 7, 2023, the Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON) expanded its ability to…… Continue reading Washington State: Streamline Skills Testing for Your Nursing Assistant Students and Employees