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

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The March 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. To ensure accurate formatting, use a current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF. Web-based…… Continue reading March 2022 Update of Appendix B – RAI 3.0 User’s Manual

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare NHSN has added the following resources to its landing page: Operational Guidance for reporting HCP COVID-19 Vaccination Data – March 2022 … 3-page PDFTips for submitting HCP COVID-19 Vaccination Data – March 2022 … 1-page PDFCOVID-19 Vaccination Data Refresher Training and Updates – February 2022 ……… Continue reading Updates to NHSN Weekly HCP & Resident COVID-19 Vaccination Website

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare In March 2019, CMS released memorandum QSO-19-08-NH, which outlined a plan to update the quality measure (QM) rating thresholds every six months. The plan was to increase the thresholds by 50% of the average rate of improvement in QM rating scores. For example, if there is…… Continue reading Quality Measure Rating Threshold Changes with the April 2022 Refresh

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Federal Register published this CMS Notice of Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The link to the public inspection (PDF) 6-page document is here. [Document Identifier: CMS–10573 and CMS– 10106] The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)…… Continue reading Agency Information (CMS) Collection Activities: Proposed Collection, Comment Request

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare I don’t believe I’ve blogged on these reports in the past, but I have accessed and used them often (e.g., research).   You may find them interesting as well.  The MDS 3.0 Frequency Report summarizes information for active residents currently in nursing homes. The source of these…… Continue reading MDS 3.0 Frequency Report – 4th Quarter 2021 Available Now

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare In addition to revising QSO-20-38-NH on March 10, 2022, CMS also revised QSO-20-39-NH: Nursing Home Visitation and the Nursing Home Visitation FAQ.  Just as with the revision of QSO-20-38-NH, the updated QSO-20-39-NH is found with the other 2021 QSO Memorandums and not obvious as a 2022…… Continue reading CMS Revises QSO-20-39-NH: Nursing Home Visitation

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare With the date of March 10, 2022, CMS quietly updated QSO-20-38-NH. [FYI NOTE: Last week, I reported that CMS had posted an updated Nursing Home Visitation FAQ document on March 10, 2022. Trying to locate a corresponding QSO, I found the revised QSO Memorandum further down…… Continue reading CMS Revises QSO-20-38-NH: LTC Facility COVID-19 Testing Requirements

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has updated the Nursing Home Resource Center with the date of March 1, 2022. “Here, you’ll find our nursing home resources, including COVID-19 public health emergency response information.”