Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has enhanced its Nursing Home Compare public reporting site to include a set of quality ratings for each nursing home that participates in Medicare or Medicaid. The ratings take the form of several “star” ratings for each nursing…… Continue reading Five-Star Quality Rating System: Technical Users’ Guide State-Level Health Inspection Cut Point Table – July 26, 2023

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Examination of Staffing Shortages at US Nursing Homes During the COVID-19 Pandemic was published in JAMA Network Open on July 27, 2023.  You’ll find the link to open this publication as a PDF (easier to read) on this landing page. Key Points Question: Do nursing home…… Continue reading Examination of Staffing Shortages at US Nursing Homes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The July update of Appendix B to the RAI 3.0 User’s Manual contains changes to the list of State RAI Coordinators, MDS Automation Coordinators, RAI Panel members, and CMS locations and contacts.  Appendix B_July 2023 Changes to Appendix B_July 2023

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Beginning Oct. 1, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will no longer support Resource Utilization Group (RUG-IV) grouper calculations for OBRA and PPS assessments. In consultation with Minnesota Nursing Facility stakeholders, adopting the use of the Optional State Assessment (OSA) was determined to be the…… Continue reading Minnesota will Require the Optional State Assessment Effective Oct. 1, 2023

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare AHCA/NCAL sent a letter to President Biden on July 24, 2023 that included 4 proposals to “help nursing homes continue to improve the quality of care they provide to our nation’s seniors and individuals with disabilities.” “In the enclosed document, we outline four policy proposals in…… Continue reading AHCA Letters to President Biden Offers Suggestions to Improve Quality of Care and Address the Impending Federal Staffing Mandate

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Subject of Rules. The Minnesota Department of Health requests comments on its possible amendment to rules governing nursing home licensure. The department is considering rule amendments that incorporate new change of ownership language in Minn. Stat. 144A, enacted in 2022, that clarifies the change of ownership…… Continue reading MN Department of Health – Division of Health Regulation is Accepting Comments: Possible Amendment to Rules Governing Nursing Home Licensure

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS issued Transmittal 12146 on July 21, 2123. It carries the same title as the blog. This Change Request (CR) (4 pages) implements changes to correct claims processing edits. This CR is applicable to the Fiscal Intermediary Shared System (FISS) and the Common Working File (CWF).…… Continue reading Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) Corrections to Claims Processing Edits

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare “ProPublica has updated “Nursing Home Inspect,” our database that helps you find problems that inspectors identified in more than 15,000 U.S. nursing homes, to make it easier to search government reports and browse serious issues. We’ve added new data, a redesigned user interface and advanced search…… Continue reading ProPublica Updates Nursing Home Inspect Database

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Five Star Preview Reports will be available on or around July 19, 2023. 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 Changes to the Nursing-Home Level Exclusion Criteria: Effective with the July 2023 refresh, CMS revised the nursing-home level exclusion criteria on erroneously high number of administrators applied to the administrator turnover measure. Previously, if a nursing home submitted Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data and reported administrator hours…… Continue reading Care Compare Nursing Home Five-Star Quality Rating Technical Users’ Guide – July 2023