Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The iQIES (Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System) Team is announcing that the Idea Portal is now available. The iQIES Idea Portal is a central place to collect, curate, and promote ideas that will help CMS add your feedback into our future software product development.  In…… Continue reading iQIES Idea Portal Now Available

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Biden-Harris Administration is taking further action on its commitment to promote care and support for people with Medicare living with dementia and their unpaid caregivers. Today (Monday, July 31, 2023), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced…… Continue reading Biden-Harris Administration Announces Medicare Dementia Care Model

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel has released the second version of their Standardized Pressure Injury Prevention Protocol – abbreviated as “SPIPP” (pronounced S – PIP). The SPIPP is a shortened checklist of preventive actions to implement at the bedside, adapted from the 2019 Guidelines on…… Continue reading National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel Releases Standardized Pressure Injury Prevention Protocol

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) has determined that there is an unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with entrapment and other hazards from adult portable bed rails (APBRs). CPSC has identified 284 fatal incidents related to entrapment by APBRs between January…… Continue reading Safety Standard for Adult Portable Bed Rails – Final Rule

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The MedPAC July 2022 Data Book: Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program (208 pages) provides information on national health care and Medicare spending as well as Medicare beneficiary demographics, dual-eligible beneficiaries, quality of care in the Medicare program, and Medicare beneficiary and other payer liability.…… Continue reading MedPAC July 2022 Data Book: Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The July 21, 2023 issue of CDC’s MMWR provides information on the Use of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines in Older Adults: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — United States, 2023. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a cause of severe respiratory illness in older…… Continue reading Use of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines in Older Adults: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — United States, 2023

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Six states have adopted this option under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan to provide individuals experiencing mental health or substance use disorder crises with community-based interventions and stabilization. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today approved proposals from California and Kentucky for community-based mobile…… Continue reading CMS Approves California & Kentucky Requests to Provide Essential Behavioral Health Services Through Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted Transmittal 216 – Revision to SOM Appendix A – Hospitals on July 21, 2023. This transmittal includes updates of the interpretive guidance for §482.13(c)(2) – The patient has the right to receive care in a safe setting. This new material carries both an effective…… Continue reading Revision to State Operations Manual (SOM) Appendix A – Hospitals

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS is providing notifications to facilities that were determined to be out of compliance with Quality Reporting Program (QRP) requirements for CY 2022, which will affect their FY 2024 Annual Payment Update (APU). Non-compliance notifications are being distributed by the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and were…… Continue reading Quality Reporting Program: PAC Non-Compliance Letters for FY 2024 APU

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare OSHA is amending its occupational injury and illness recordkeeping regulation to require certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness information to OSHA that employers are already required to keep under the recordkeeping regulation. Specifically, OSHA is amending its regulation to require establishments with 100 or…… Continue reading OSHA Final Rule: Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses