Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting exceptions under certain Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs located in areas affected by the Texas Severe Winter Storm to assist these providers while they direct their resources toward caring for their patients and repairing…… Continue reading Reporting Exception Granted Due to Texas Severe Winter Storms

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted Transmittal 204 – Revisions to the State Operations Manual (SOM) Appendix Z – Emergency Preparedness – on Friday, April 16, 2021.   This is a 101-page Transmittal. If you read my March 26, 2021 blog, you’ll find reference to the QSO-21-15-ALL memorandum telling us about…… Continue reading Revisions to the State Operations Manual (SOM) Appendix Z – Emergency Preparedness

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare I’m providing this information for our Critical Access Hospital (CAH) readers. The Q4FY20 release of the Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) is now available for download through the PEPPER Resources Portal. To obtain your CAH PEPPER: Visit the PEPPER Resources…… Continue reading Critical Access Hospital (CAH) PEPPER Report Available

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Department of Human Services (DHS) has a new resource for stakeholders to understand how the state’s Medicaid program operates. The 2021 Iowa Medicaid Reference Guide provides an overview of both the state’s Medicaid program as well as the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), including program…… Continue reading Iowa 2021 Medicaid Reference Guide

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare We’ve been talking about health care workers a lot during this public health emergency/pandemic.  Just who are these workers?  The U.S. Census Bureau has some answers. Many of the nation’s health care workers are now on the front line of the battle with COVID-19. Who are…… Continue reading Who Are Our Health Care Workers?

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare If you missed the live MLN event on March 23, 2021, you can now access these materials when it’s convenient for you: Audio recording (ZIP) … MP3 filePresentation (PDF) … 33-page handout Transcript (PDF) … 26-page written transcript You can also access the above as well as…… Continue reading Materials for Residents with Dementia-Related Psychosis: Strategies for Evaluation and Care

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare PEPPER (Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report) is still very much alive and there are updates that you need to be aware of. On March 30, 2021, the SNF PEPPER User’s Guide, Ninth Edition was posted to the PEPPER Resources website.   This is a 15-page…… Continue reading Remember PEPPER? New Data Elements + Annual Reports Coming

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The afternoon of Tuesday, March 30, 2021, a MLN Connects – Special Edition posted this announcement:

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted QSO-21-15-ALL today (March 26, 2021). This QSO is 113-pages in length. “In light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE), CMS is expanding the Emergency Preparedness Interpretive Guidelines to further expand on best practices, lessons learned, and planning considerations for EIDs.”…… Continue reading Updated Guidance for Emergency Preparedness-Appendix Z of the State Operations Manual (SOM)

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare For our hospital/acute care readers, CMS posted QSO-21-16-Hospitals today (March 26, 2021).  This QSO is 3-pages in length. This QSO is effective immediately.