Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS just completed an Open Door Forum that focused on the status of the new Medicare card project. The transition period is in process for just the next 16 weeks. All new Medicare cards have been mailed with over 61 million beneficiaries receiving new cards…… Continue reading New Medicare Card Project Open Door Forum

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Back in late August, I blogged that CDC/Strive would be posting additional infection prevention and control training courses.  Here are the latest courses (more coming so stay tuned): We are pleased to announce the launch of the Building a Business Case for Infection Prevention and Patient…… Continue reading CDC/STRIVE Release Additional Free Infection Control Training Courses

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Early this morning, CMS announced the launch of a new mailbox with great resources: “This message is to announce the launch of the new CMS Beneficiary Notices Initiative (BNI) mailbox portal for beneficiary notices and related policy questions.  Please note this mailbox portal replaces the…… Continue reading BNI Has Moved – New Resources Website

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Environmental Cleaning and Personal Protective Equipment courses are the latest in a series of 11 new infection control training courses. These courses are part of the new States Targeting Reduction in Infections via Engagement (STRIVE) curriculum.  The training courses were developed by national infection prevention…… Continue reading CDC/STRIVE Training Introduces Additional Infection Control Courses

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Late afternoon on Thursday, August 8, 2019, CMS released the ICD-10-CM updates for FY 2020 with this announcement: “These 2020 ICD-10-CM codes are to be used for discharges occurring from October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020 and for patient encounters occurring from October 1,…… Continue reading ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting – FY2020 – Released

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP  Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Yesterday, July 24th, I spotted an email from the PEPPER team in my inbox asking this very question. I receive frequent emails from PEPPER, depending on the time of year and the post-acute entity involved in the specific PEPPER message so yesterday’s email wasn’t a…… Continue reading Have You Accessed Your PEPPER Report?

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Yesterday, July 23, 2019, CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) posted interim guidance that “should be implemented in the context of a comprehensive infection prevention program to prevent transmission of all infectious agents among patients, HCP, and visitors.” Healthcare settings refers to “places where…… Continue reading Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Measles in Healthcare Settings