Health: Nursing. Administration. Services Maintenance. Dietary Housekeeping. Social. Activitiess. Laundry. Specialty. Facilities.

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1 @ Weekly Roundup Reporting the state and national long term care news Please disseminate the relevant information contained in this week s edition of the Weekly Roundup to the appropriate department. Administration Nursing Dietary Rehabilitation Housekeeping Activitiess Social Services Maintenance Laundry ANHAA NEWS Friday, October 23, 2009 Note from the Alabama Departmentt of Public Health: H1N1 Vaccination Statement of Residents of Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Facilities & Specialty Care Assisted Living Facilities Once demand for vaccine for the high priority groups has been met, programs and providers should also begin vaccinating everyone from the ages of 25 through 64 years. Current studies indicate that the risk of infection among persons 65 or older is less than the risk for younger age groups. Once vaccine demand among the younger groups has been met, providers should offer vaccination to people 65 or older. ADPH will contact ANHA at the appropriate time with specific information regarding a plan to provide H1N1 to elderly residents of such facilities in Alabama. Note from ANHA: A conference call on this issue will be held soon. information when it becomes available. ANHA willl provide more New Five-Star Quality Ratings Report in LTC Trend Tracker The American Health Care Association (AHCA) is pleased to announce the addition of a new Five-Star quality ratings report to LTC Trend Tracker. This new report allows you to examine and compare performance based on CMS s rating system and can help to improve performance and be more responsive to consumer queries. To learn more about using LTC Trend Tracker for quality and performance improvement, go to OSHA s Recordkeeping NEP Targets Nursing Facilities The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced its Recordkeeping National Emphasis Program (NEP). The program will expire in one year and directs OSHA inspectors to scrutinize all injury and illness records during calendar years 2007 and 2008 for a sampling of employees at selected workplaces in historically high-risk industries, which includes nursing facilities. The purpose of the NEP is to ascertain whether, and to what extent, employers are under-recording injuries and illnesses at the worksite. Page 1 of 6

2 A maximum of five workplaces will be inspected in each OSHA region under the pilot program. During the inspection, inspectors will independently reconstruct OSHA 300 forms which log work-related injuries and illnesses for each employee in the sample using records sources from the employer. Those forms will then be compared against the actual OSHA 300 forms filed by the employer. BC/BS Agrees to Attend ANHA Region Meetings Representatives from Blue Cross/Blue Shield have agreed to attend ANHA Region meetings. They will be speaking and available for questions about Blue Advantage issues during these meetings. We encourage you to take this opportunity to attend a region meeting. DEA Coalition Survey The Quality Care Coalition for Patients in Pain (QCCPP) has developed a survey ( to document how the Drug Enforcement Administration s (DEA) recent strict interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in long term care settings is affecting patient care. The information gathered from the survey will be used to advocate for legislative and regulatory changes. The survey is intended for long-term care pharmacies, nursing homes, hospice providers, physicians, home health and other settings where controlled substances are administered to patients and residents. The survey may be answered anonymously. QCCPP says it will not disclose any information that can be used to identify individuals, providers, patients, programs or pharmacies. We encourage members to complete this survey. LTC Survey Manuals September 2009 Edition of LTC Survey Manual Now Available from ANHA ANHA has received copies of the September 2009 LTC Survey Manual (watermelon book/red book). ANHA sells the book for $ To order the manuals, please contact Kerri Parker at the Association office at (334) or kparker@anha.org. You can also find product information at in the members section. Please see the attached order form for more information. FACILITY NEWS Care Center of Vernon Celebrates Residents Rights Week Care Center of Vernon recently celebrated Residents Rights Week with a parade around the facility. Pictured left, special guest Elvis Presley prepares to lead the residents in the parade. Residents Rights Week was October 5-9, Page 2 of 6

3 Cogburn Health & Rehab Residentss Beat the Heat The residents of Cogburn Health & Rehab recently held Beat the Heat day. The barrage of water came in the form of water balloons, water guns and even buckets of water. Residents, staff and volunteers played balloon toss, dodge ball and hot potato. Over 1,000 water balloons were used throughout the day of fun. EDUCATION NEWS Survey Process Update 2009 Educational Seminar November 10 th Please mark your calendars for November 10, 2009, when ANHA will present a seminar entitled Survey Process Update During this seminar we will present informationn for health care professionals which includes important aspects of the nursing home survey process as well as updates that have occurred during 2009 and will occur during This seminar will be held at The Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham. The seminar will begin at 8:30 am and conclude at 4:30 pm. This seminar has been approved for 6 hours of continuing education for nursing home administrators. It has also been approved for 7.2 contactt hours for nurses. Please see the attached flyer for more information. Learn How to Design and Implement a Compliance Program - Register Today for the Webinar on October 27, 2009 Register now for the next American Health Care Association (AHCA) webinar in the Designing and Implementing a Corporate Compliance Program series, which will be held on Tuesday, October 27, from 1:00 2:00 p.m. CT. Since May, AHCA has been discussing the laws and regulations that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) considers highh risk areas for potential fraud/abuse problems in long term care facilities, including the Federal Anti-Kickback law, resident safety, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), reserved bed payments, sufficient staffing, proper reporting for case mix and appropriate use of psychotropic medication. This month, the discussion will focus on comprehensivee care plans, restorative/personal care servicess and medication management. Register today at My InnerView: Webinar on November 5 My InnerView s (MIV) final Webinar on satisfaction assessment for 2009 will be held on November 5 at 2:00 p.m. CT. All AHCA members are welcome, especially those not doing satisfaction surveys who would like to find better survey tools than the ones they are currently using or want to expand surveying to employees or short stay patients. Currently over 60 percent of AHCA members are using My InnerView survey material. The Webinars, conducted as part of AHCA s Satisfaction Assessment Initiative, serve as an introduction to MIV surveys Page 3 of 6

4 and last 30 minutes or less and is an excellent opportunity to check out a new process that will help you sustain a cost-effective, efficient quality improvement system with potential upsides to your marketing program. Participants must pre-register at to receive the call-in information. Like you, MIV understands that it is all about actionable data, so this Webinar may be your ticket to a better Page 4 of 6 OTHER NEWS Advancing Excellence to Launch Phase II Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes is about to usher in the first update to its goals since For all participants, this is an excellent time to review their activities and performance in the Campaign up to now, noting the challenges faced and milestones accomplished. Not all the goals will be new. However, even the goals carried over from the original Campaign have new objectives or have been significantly re-defined. Phase II of the Campaign has three clinical improvement goals and five operational improvement goals. Additionally, the order of the goals has been changed to better reflect that staffing issues are clearly drivers of overall quality improvement in a nursing home. The eight new goals will be: Goal 1, Staff Turnover: Nursing homes will be expected to take steps to minimize staff turnover among RNs, LPNs and CNAs and other essential staff. Goal 2, Consistent Assignment: Nursing homes will practice consistent assignment in accordance with the definition established by Advancing Excellence. Goal 3, Restraints: Nursing home residents are independent to the best of their ability and rarely experience daily physical restraints. Goal 4, Pressure Ulcers: Nursing home residents receive appropriate care to prevent and treat pressure ulcers. Goal 5, Pain: This will be a two-part goal with objectives for long stay and short stay differing slightly Goal 6, Advance Care Planning: All nursing home residents will have the opportunity to discuss their goals for care - including their preferences for advance care planning - with an appropriate member of the healthcare team. Goal 7, Resident/Family Satisfaction: Almost all nursing homes will assess resident and family experience of care and incorporate this information into quality improvement activities. Goal 8, Staff Satisfaction: Almost all nursing homes will assess staff satisfaction at least annually, and upon separation, and incorporate this information into their quality improvement activities. Advancing Excellence anticipates that the new goals and a new website will be available on or shortly after October 22, Medicaid Cost Reports The Alabama Nursing Home Association will once again collect cost reports for analysis by our independent reimbursement consultant, Dave Bishop. As in the past, our reimbursement consultant will provide you a detailed analysis of your costs compared to the costs of other facilities of a similar size. We cannot stress enough the importance of sending in your cost report. In order to negotiate with Medicaid on various issues, we need to have accurate

5 information concerning the industry. This information has proved very beneficial in the past. Please send a copy of your 2009 Medicaid Cost Report to: Alabama Nursing Home Association 4156 Carmichael Road Montgomery, Alabama, ATTN: Katrina Magdon Nurse Aide Abuse Registry Please note that the following individual has been placed on the Alabama Nurse Aide Abuse and/or Sanction Registry effective 10/9/2009. This individual is prohibited from working in any long-term care facility. To check nurse aides, you can use the nurse aide web site at (Click on Contents A-Z - located in the dark blue at the top of the screen - then Click on Nurse Aide Registry - then Click in the white box and type in the Social Security Number of the person you are trying to find. Be sure and include the dashes in the SSN.) Name Monica Young CALENDAR OF EVENTS Date Event Location Time November 5 th ANHA Region IX Meeting NHS Management 11:30 a.m. Speaker: Blue Cross Blue Shield Conference Center RSVP: John Burchfield Tuscaloosa (205) November 5 th ANHA Public Relations ANHA Office 2:00 p.m. Committee Meeting Montgomery November 5 th ANHA Region III Meeting McCormick & Schmick s 6:00 p.m. RSVP: Kevin Ball: (205) Birmingham November 10 th Survey Process Update 2009 The Wynfrey Hotel 7:30 a.m. Seminar Birmingham November 10 th ANHA Executive Board Retreat Ross Bridge -12 th Hoover November 11 th ANHA Executive Board Meeting Ross Bridge 9:00 a.m. Hoover November 19 th ANHA Regions II & IV Meeting Anniston City 1:00 p.m. Speaker: BC/BS Billing Meeting Center Limited Seating Anniston RSVP: Pam Penland: (205) Page 5 of 6

6 Alabama Nursing Home Association 4156 Carmichael Road Montgomery, AL PH: (334) FAX: (334) WEB SITES: Alabama Nursing Home Association AL Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators AL Dept. of Public Health CMS Page 6 of 6