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Wednesday September 5, 2012
Please read the following reminder regarding the Medicare
Secondary Payer Act. Medicare
Secondary Payer Act Reminder
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Wednesday September 5, 2012
On August 28, 2012 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) released their 2012 Nursing Home Action Plan. The
plan is organized into 5 actionable strategies:
- Enhance Consumer Engagement.
- Strengthen Survey Processes, Standards, and Enforcement.
- Promote Quality Improvement.
- Create Strategic Approaches through Partnerships.
- Advancing Quality through Innovation and
Demonstration.
Details include planned updates to Nursing Home Compare, improving
fire safety, revising surveyor guidance, QIS, civil money
penalties, culture change activities, QAPI, Care Transitions,
Health Facility Acquired Infections (HAIs), and initiatives for
reducing re-hospitalizations and use of anti-psychotics. The
plan is based on a 3-part plan created by the agency to improve the
U.S. health care system:
- Improving the individual experience of care.
- Improving the health of populations.
- Reducing the per-capita cost of care of populations.
Complete 2012 Nursing Home Action Plan: 2012-Nursing-Home-Action-Plan
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Wednesday September 5, 2012
In 2012, CMS launched the Partnership to Improve
Dementia Care in Nursing Homes to promote comprehensive dementia
care and therapeutic interventions for nursing home residents with
dementia-related behaviors. The goals of this initiative include a
focus on person-centered care and the reduction of unnecessary
antipsychotic medication use in nursing homes and eventually other
care settings as well.
CMS is using several approaches to successfully implement
this initiative. CMS is developing and conducting trainings for
nursing home providers, surveyors, and consumers. We are conducting
research, raising public awareness, using regulatory oversight, and
public reporting to increase transparency.
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Friday September 7, 2012
Registration is now open for the 2012 CQRMS Training
Program. If you would like more information about this
program please contact Nancy Lee (contact information listed in the
brochure).
Seating is limited, early registration is recommended.
Registration brochure: 2012 CQRMS web
brochure
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Friday September 14, 2012
Hand Hygiene (HH) has always been a concern in long term care
facilities and recently, in some states, there has been an increase
in the number of citations being written related to HH. A recent
article published in the Journal of Applied Gerontology,
titled "Hand Hygiene Deficiency Citations in Nursing
Homes" addresses this area of concern.
Click on the link below to take you to the article.
http://jag.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/08/01/0733464812449903.abstract
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Friday September 14, 2012
The healthcare industry faces enormous pressure to
transform the delivery system from acute centric care into more
cost effective care across the preventative, chronic, acute, and
long-term continuum. The marketplace is demanding that providers
align, and that change is implemented aggressively. The current
industry backdrop is an environment where the cost of drugs,
supplies, technologies and staffing are increasing, competition
from entrepeneurs who capture opportunities in attractive niches is
intensified, and consumer interest in public scorecards on hospital
and physician safety, quality, and satisfaction has risen. All the
while reimbursement rates from third party payors (Medicare,
Medicaid, and Commercial Health Plans) is trending
downward.
To continue reading this article, click the link below:
Transition to
ICD 10
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Tuesday September 18, 2012
Please see the two attachments regarding a recent lawsuit
involving alleged off-labeled use of an antipsychotic and a press
release from the U. S. Department of Justice in which a company
maintained specialized sales force to market drug for off label
purposes; Targeted elderly dementia patients in nursing homes.
Alert-CMS Initiative for the Use of Antipsychotics
subject of lawsuit
U.S. Department of Justice Press
Release