CMS Updates FAQ Document: Nursing Home Visitation

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted an updated Nursing Home Visitation FAQ document on March 10, 2022. There are several updates, all identified in red font. The updates relate to being up-to-date with all recommended vaccines, for the most part. These are the questions for which the answers were updated…… Continue reading CMS Updates FAQ Document: Nursing Home Visitation

Biden Administration Launches Nationwide Test-to-Treat Initiative Ensuring Rapid ‘On the Spot’ Access to Lifesaving COVID Treatments

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare As part of President Biden’s National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan to help America move forward safely, the Biden-Harris Administration is launching a nationwide Test to Treat Initiative this week so Americans can rapidly access needed COVID-19 treatments. Through this program, people who test positive for COVID-19 will be able…… Continue reading Biden Administration Launches Nationwide Test-to-Treat Initiative Ensuring Rapid ‘On the Spot’ Access to Lifesaving COVID Treatments

Nursing Home Staffing Levels Fall 8% in Six Months

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare LTCCC (Long Term Care Community Coalition) posted this alert on March 3, 2022: “Federal requirements mandate that nursing homes have sufficient staff, with the appropriate competencies to meet the clinical, emotional, and psychosocial needs of every resident. Unfortunately, understaffing is a widespread and persistent problem that…… Continue reading Nursing Home Staffing Levels Fall 8% in Six Months

PBJ QTSO Registration and Training – Resources Document

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The PBJ QTSO Registration and Training document carries a date of February 24, 2022.  When you access that hyperlink, you’ll find this: It looks like the document was posted yesterday – March 9, 2022 on the Staffing Data Submission Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) landing page,…… Continue reading PBJ QTSO Registration and Training – Resources Document

LTCH Provider Preview Reports Related to the March 2022 Care Compare Refresh Have Been Reissued and are Now Available

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) discovered an error in measure calculations for the Ventilator Liberation Rate measure in the provider preview reports previously issued on January 26, 2022, related to the March 2022 refresh of Care Compare, for the reporting period July 01,…… Continue reading LTCH Provider Preview Reports Related to the March 2022 Care Compare Refresh Have Been Reissued and are Now Available

Between a Rock and Hard Place: Recommendations for Balancing Patient Safety and Pandemic Response

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare Arlington, Va., March 8, 2022 – As the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is issuing an urgent call-to-action to shore up the nation’s infection prevention and control (IPC) infrastructure. Even before the…… Continue reading Between a Rock and Hard Place: Recommendations for Balancing Patient Safety and Pandemic Response

US Department of Labor Announces Enforcement, Effort for Focused Inspections in Hospitals, Nursing Care Facilities Treating COVID-19 Patients

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare WASHINGTON – For two years, millions of the nation’s healthcare workers have been battling the coronavirus. Many have endangered themselves as they care for those who contract COVID-19 while working in high-risk settings that expose themselves and their families. As the nation moves to the next phase…… Continue reading US Department of Labor Announces Enforcement, Effort for Focused Inspections in Hospitals, Nursing Care Facilities Treating COVID-19 Patients

Biden Pledges Better Nursing Home Care, But He Likely Won’t Fast-Track It

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare This is the title of a KHN News article published on March 3, 2022. “President Joe Biden’s top Medicare official suggested Wednesday that forthcoming rules to bolster nursing home staffing won’t be issued under a mechanism, known as interim final rules, that would allow regulations to…… Continue reading Biden Pledges Better Nursing Home Care, But He Likely Won’t Fast-Track It