Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On April 25, 2019, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a 40-page report on the assessment of state programs conducted from 2013 to 2016. “Background checks are an important safety measure that can help protect the 9 million beneficiaries who rely on long-term-care services…… Continue reading OIG Report on National Background Check Program for Long Term Care Providers

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted the inspection copy of the FY2020 Proposed SNF PPS Rule (232 pages) last week with the official Federal Register posting scheduled for this week – Thursday, April 25, 2019. As found in the CMS summary, this proposed rule would: Update the payment rates…… Continue reading FY2020 Proposed SNF PPS Rule – Preview Copy Posted

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare ezPBJ – the newest Briggs family member – posted guidance late last week based on the recent updating of the Five Star rating system used with Nursing Home Compare. QSO-19-08-NH – issued March 5, 2019 and effective April 24, 2019 – outlines what will change…… Continue reading CMS Moves the Goalposts for Five Star Ratings

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS just sent out this notification via email: This is the agenda and information posted just this morning, about 1 hour ago, on the SNF/LTC Open Door Forum website (I’ve highlighted and bolded the date, time and phone number as well as the Conference ID):…… Continue reading Last Minute Notice from CMS – SNF/LTC Open Door Forum This Afternoon: April 23, 2019

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare® In addition to April 4, 2019 updates, CMS updated the FAQ document again last Thursday, on April 11, 2019.   12 Questions/Answers were updated in this latest version.  Those updates are shown in strike-outs and red font such as these 2 examples: If you haven’t already,…… Continue reading CMS Updated PDPM FAQ Document – Again – Last Week

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare® CMS posted the FINAL MDS 3.0 Item Sets on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, at least according to the titling of the .zip file. There is no additional documentation provided with the posting as CMS normally does – just the .zip file itself. Once on this…… Continue reading MDS 3.0 Version 1.17.1 Final Item Sets Posted

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare® CMS posted updated Patient Driven Payment Model documents the evening of Thursday, April 4th.  Those documents are: PDPM FAQs (new/updated items identified in red font) PDPM Classification Walkthrough PDPM Grouper Logic (SAS) PDPM ICD-10 Mappings The Fact Sheets remain unchanged from the February 14th update…… Continue reading PDPM Materials Updated April 4, 2019

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare® CMS was very busy late last week.  In addition to errata updates to the DRAFT MDS 3.0 Item Set and PDPM documents being updated, the SNF VBP Frequently Asked Questions document was updated. The 7-page document contains these items:

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare® CMS posted this statement on April 5, 2019: “An errata (V3.00.1) was posted for the DRAFT version (v3.00.1) of the MDS 3.0 Data Specifications, which will go into effect on October 1, 2019. Twenty-one issues were identified. One new item (X0570A) was added. Five existing…… Continue reading Errata for DRAFT MDS 3.0 Item Set Version 1.17 Posted

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare® On or about Friday, April 5, 2019, you’ll be able to download your PEPPER report. You’ll see this notification on that website: Beneath the grid, you’ll find links on accessing a video as well as a step-by-step guide to download your PEPPER report either through…… Continue reading SNFs: Watch for Release of Your Annual PEPPER Report on April 5, 2019