Member Resources

Mass Senior Care Association's 2019 Nursing Facility Employment Survey has been electronically distributed to nursing facilities and corporate offices. We are asking members to complete the survey based on data collected for the week beginning May 20, 2019. The survey is a fillable form that should be returned to Mass Senior Care by postal mail, fax (617-558-3546) or email to ddesimone@maseniorcare.org by Friday, June 28, 2019. Please note that, based on feedback from members, we have reduced the number of

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has made changes to the regional coverage by the Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organizations (BFCC-QIOs). The BFCC-QIO in MA was previously Livanta but will now be covered by KEPRO. Effective June 8, 2019, KEPRO will be the BFCC-QIO in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota

Over 500 members of the nursing facility community including residents, their families, staff and vendors took to the State House on May 21st to rally for increased funding to protect quality nursing home care.

On May 20 th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officially posted on its website a draft version of the new RAI training guidance that will help transitioning to the Patient-Drive Payment Model. CMS notes that this early, preliminary release is being provided in response to stakeholder feedback. The MDS 3.0 RAI Manual v1.17 contains many updates including information related to the Patient Driven Payment Model. Questions regarding information presented in the manual should be directed to the

MassHealth will be holding a webinar on June 20, 2019 at 2 pm in regard to its Technical Refresh of the MassHealth Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) to replace its HIPAA compliance and translator tool. The tool is used to validate HIPAA compliance and translate the HIPAA compliant transactions to an XML format so that they can be processed within MassHealth's MMIS. All HIPAA transactions (inbound/outbound) processed through MassHealth's MMIS will be affected by this technical refresh. MassHealth will be

Implementation of the new Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) is now underway. Join us for an informative education program to learn all there is to know about this new law, presented by David Wilson, Founding Partner of the law firm Hirsch Roberts Weinstein, an Associate Member of Mass Senior Care Association. The Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Law: What Long Term Care Employers Need to Know June 11, 2019 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Mass Senior

Massachusetts employers that offer approved private plans with paid leave benefits that are equal to or more generous than those provided under the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program may obtain an exemption from making family or medical leave contributions to the Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML). In order help employers evaluate whether they want to apply for an exemption, the Department of Paid Family and Medical Leave is providing specific information about the exemption process requirements

We look forward to hundreds of nursing home staff, residents and their families joining us at the Massachusetts State House for Mass Senior Care's Advocacy Day next Tuesday, May 21st at 10:00 a.m. Please click here for the flyer and directions/parking to the Massachusetts State House. The Massachusetts Senate is expected to debate the FY 2020 budget beginning next week, which coincides with Advocacy Day which is one of the Association's most important events of the year, when we show

At the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs hearing on May 7th, Frank Romano, President of Essex Group Management Corp and Mass Senior Care Association Board Member provided oral testimony in support of H.595, An Act Relative to Assisted Living Facility Care filed by State Representative James Arciero (D-Westford). This legislation would require the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) to implement an informal dispute resolution (IDR) process that allows operators of assisted living residences to appeal EOEA findings. The IDR

AHCA’s Virtual PDPM Training prepares AHCA members for PDPM and will mirror the in-person trainings that have been held for AHCA members in almost every state in recent months.

Annually, the Boston Globe’s Salute to Nurses recognizes caregivers whose “dedication and caring have saved lives, soothed fears, and eased the pain of countless patients and families." We are proud to recognize Mass Senior Care Association members who were honored in this year’s tribute. Caroline Ambros, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, Hebrew SeniorLife Peitra Baker, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, Hebrew SeniorLife Tricia Beaudoin, Hancock Park Rehab & Nursing Center Ellen Borden, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, Hebrew SeniorLife Kirsten Brady, Sutton Hill Center, Genesis HealthCare

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Staff at Tremont Rehabilitation and Skilled Center in Wareham recently hosted State Representative Susan Williams Gifford, who spent time visiting with residents and discussing nursing home issues with facility staff. Left to Right: Administrator Mary Ann Liatsis, Admissions Coordinator Amy Lawrence, State Representative Susan Williams Gifford, Director of Nursing Nadine Rousseau, Housekeeping Linda Wager, Staff Development Bonnie McLaughlin, and Activities Director Nancy Perry.

The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released its updated list which reflects all OIG exclusions and reinstatement actions up to, and including, those taken in April 2019. This new file is meant to replace the updated List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) database file available for download last month. Individuals and entities that have been reinstated to the federal health care programs are not included in this file. The updated files are posted

To assist members in contemplating potential conversions of non-licensed space, please review the attached memo that provides additional detail and guidance on what the regulatory change means to your facility.

The Massachusetts Senate is currently working on its FY 2020 state budget and your local state senator has an opportunity to make budget decisions that will prioritize nursing home care.

The Department of Family and Medical Leave has issued the following updates: Employer Notice to Employees - The deadline for employer notice to employees has been extended from May 31 to June 30, 2019. The notice, which may be provided electronically, must include the opportunity for an employee or self-employed individual to acknowledge receipt or decline to acknowledge receipt of the information. Federal Employer Identification Number - The identification number assigned by the Department of Family and Medical Leave will

In response to concerns raised by Mass Senior Care, MassHealth has provided clarification that its April 1, 2019 Eligibility Operations Memorandum 19-05, Replacement of the Eligibility Review for Seniors and Certain People Needling Long-Term-Care Services (MER) form refers specifically to individuals who live in the community and are determined eligible using traditional MassHealth rules. MassHealth has indicated that this memorandum is not about the form to re-determine eligibility for individuals residing in Long Term Care/Skilled Nursing Facilities.

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) has adopted revised rates for services provided by temporary nursing to licensed hospitals and nursing facilities – 101 CMR 345/Temporary Nursing Services. The amendments establish the rate limits for temporary nursing agency services for each geographic region as purchased by hospitals and nursing facilities effective March 1, 2019.

On April 28, employees, residents, families, friends and community members came together to celebrate the 100 thanniversary of Chelsea Jewish Lifecare. Governor Charlie Baker recognized this momentous day by issuing a Citation in honor of this special anniversary. The non-profit organization operates campuses in Chelsea, Peabody and Longmeadow, Massachusetts, employing over 2,000 individuals and taking care of over 1,000 individuals every day. A highlight of the event was a heartfelt tribute to the 49 staff members who have worked at

As a follow-up to the April 18 guidance article on C. auris, the Department of Public Health hosted a webinar in June 2018, "Candida auris: A Fungus We Don't Want Among Us". C. auris remains rare in Massachusetts. There were no cases detected in 2018 and none to date in 2019. To view the webinar click here. To access the hand-outs, please click here.

Mass Senior Care extends congratulations to the 24 members who completed the Strategies for Success: Building Nursing Leadership course on April 18th. This group of individuals met once a week for 6-weeks, learning the fundamental building blocks of nurse leadership from experts in the long term care profession. Graduates included: Lauren Beckman, Lisa Braga, Tanya Cesar, Kate Columbus, Carin Degrenier, GuyChardine Fleurant, Laurie Hart, Paula Lawrence, Betty Lemite, Christina Loconte, Jamie McAdam, Rachael McCullough, Bailey McDonald, Jane Mute, Medjine Najac

The Massachusetts Culture Change Coalition invites you to participate in a new round of regional forums, designed to bring together long term care providers and other stakeholders interested in pursuing person-centered care. Regional forums serve as venues to share information and ideas about culture change and provide resources to help you get started or expand on your culture change journey. The focus of the Spring 2019 forums is to help providers learn how to offer residents person centered dining and

MassHealth requires that nursing facilities and chronic disease and rehabilitation inpatient hospitals account for the balances of personal needs allowance (PNA) account funds. MassHealth has issued its annual LTC Bulletin for the accounting of balances of personal needs allowances (PNA) for residents in LTC facilities. For 2018, if a provider does not submit the PNA form by Friday, May 31, 2019, or if the filing is incomplete and not reconciled to the bank statement, the provider may be subject to

Legislators from across the state visited Mass Senior Care facility members on the need to invest in quality resident care and staff for the FY 2020 budget. Mass Senior Care continues to encourage members to host legislative events which will allow elected officials to see firsthand the valuable services your facility provides. The Answering The Call To Care Campaign Toolkit provides a step-by-step guide on how your facility can host a successful event. State Senator Michael Barrett (D-Lexington) visits Palm

On June 3-4, AHCA/NCAL's Congressional Briefing offers members an invaluable opportunity to meet with Members of Congress. You will get an update on the latest happenings in long term and post-acute care on a national level, and then meet with your Congressman and their staff on Capitol Hill. Please contact Jennifer Chen at jchen@maseniorcare.org if you plan to attend.

Thanks to the tremendous effort of the nursing home community from across the Commonwealth, Mass Senior Care is pleased to report the House of Representatives adopted House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano's Nursing Home Investment Amendment #479 in its House FY 2020 budget recommendation.

Mass Senior Care invites staff at member facilities to participate in various committees designed to share information on the topics of clinical quality, regulatory, human resources and finance and reimbursement. This information and feedback will assist MSCA staff with developing policy positions and prioritizing strategic initiatives. Committee meetings are held in Mass Senior Care’s office in Waltham. Facility members are invited to participate. If you are interested in attending one of the upcoming committee meetings, please contact Jennifer Chen. Upcoming

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a toolkit highlighting innovative strategies that Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) use to coordinate and manage care for their diverse beneficiary populations to ensure high-quality effective care is provided at the right time and in the right setting. The toolkit includes a section on ‘Coordinating Care for Beneficiaries Who Require Treatment in a SNF.’ Along with the 14-page toolkit, the agency also released seven case studies detailing how individual ACOs

The Massachusetts Culture Change Coalition invites you to participate in a new round of regional forums, designed to bring together long term care providers and other stakeholders interested in pursuing person-centered care. Regional forums serve as venues to share information and ideas about culture change and provide resources to help you get started or expand on your culture change journey. The focus of the Spring 2019 forums is to help providers learn how to offer residents person centered dining and

assHealth is conducting a Technical Refresh of the MassHealth Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) to replace its HIPAA compliance and translator tool. This technical refresh will be phased in through March 2020. The tool is used to validate HIPAA compliance and translate the HIPAA compliant transactions to an XML format so that they can be processed within MassHealth’s MMIS. All HIPAA transactions (inbound/outbound) processed through MassHealth’s MMIS will be affected by this technical refresh. All trading partners who submit or

Acts of kindness, compassion and generosity happen every day in the 400 skilled nursing facilities that serve our frail elderly and disabled residents in Massachusetts, but we take time every year to celebrate our residents and staff for one week during National Skilled Nursing Care Week that begins on Mother’s Day, May 12. We celebrate the lives that our residents live, their history and their future. We celebrate the time spent by our staff with our residents, the nurses and

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the Provision of Human Service Transportation (HST) on the Commonwealth’s eProcurement website, COMMBUYS. The purpose of the RFI is to strengthen the current HST Brokerage System’s coordinated approach to providing transportation to multiple health and human service agencies. Please note that as part of the RFI, EOHHS is exploring the possibility of expanding its HST Brokerage System to include non-emergency transportation services

On April 5, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted on their MDS 3.0 Technical Information web page the final version of the MDS 3.0 Item Sets (Version 1.17.1) which will be effective October 1, 2019. These changes will correspond with and support the implementation of the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM) that is replacing the Resource Utilization Groups, version four (RUG-IV) model for determining the skilled nursing facility prospective payment system (SNF PPS) per-diem case-mix payment

The Department of Family and Medical Leave has posted on its website the notice employers and covered business are required to provide to their current workforce notifying them about the state's Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) law. This includes information about contributions, benefits, and protections as outlined in the law (M.G.L. c. 175M sec. 4) on or before May 31, 2019. The notice, which may be provided electronically, must include the opportunity for an employee or self-employed individual to

AHCA has issued the following memorandum in regard to Guidance on Emerging Infection Candida Auris . C. auris is an emerging yeast that can be misidentified as other organisms, is multidrug-resistant, and can spread in health care settings. The April 14th edition of the New York Timesincluded an article here . It is important to know how to identify, treat, and control the spread of this organism. The resources on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website meant for

Please join hundreds of us at the State House for Mass Senior Care's Advocacy Day on Tuesday, May 21st at 10:00 a.m. Advocacy Day is one of the Association's most important events of the year.

The Massachusetts Senate GOP Caucus conducted listening sessions at three Mass Senior Care member nursing facilities. Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, Senator Vinny deMacedo, Senator Dean Tran, Senator Ryan Fattman and Senator Patrick O’Connor heard directly from front-line operators and staff on the current nursing facility financial, workforce and regulatory challenges facing the sector.

On April 10th, the Committee on House Ways and Means (HWM) released its version of the state FY2020 budget. The Committee's recommendation includes an additional $30 Million in funding for nursing home care and establishes a Nursing Facility Emergency Task Force to make recommendations on long term sustainability of the nursing facility sector.

Mass Senior Care invites staff at member facilities to participate in various committees designed to share information on the topics of clinical quality, regulatory, human resources and finance and reimbursement. This information and feedback will assist MSCA staff with developing policy positions and prioritizing strategic initiatives. Committee meetings are held in Mass Senior Care’s office in Waltham. Facility members are invited to participate. If you are interested in attending one of the upcoming committee meetings, please contact Jennifer Chen. Upcoming

The enhanced Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) review and correct reports are now available, on demand in the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reporting (CASPER) application. In addition to enhanced sorting functionality, this report now includes patient level data and automated CSV file creation functionality that contains patient level results. Providers can access these reports by selecting the CASPER Reporting link on the “Welcome to the CMS QIES Systems for Providers” webpage.

In its latest guidance on the ongoing transition to the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) set to occur October 1, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a number of materials for stakeholders to review, including updates to its PDPM-related frequently asked questions (FAQs). In addition to the FAQs, CMS also released additional updated resources relevant to PDPM implementation, including various coding crosswalks and classification logic.

The Massachusetts Senior Care Foundation's annual scholarship program assists long term care staff in meeting their personal and professional goals through furthering their education. Since 1985, the Foundation has awarded $2.9 million in scholarships to help nearly 1,600 long term care staff to advance their educational and professional development in long term care. The Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2019 scholarship awards. Scholarships from $500 to $2,000 will be awarded to selected applicants to help cover direct, out

On April 8th, AHCA hosted a webinar summarizing the new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Five-Star Rating System changes that will be updated on Nursing Home Compare later this month. The webinar is now available for viewing here . A member toolkit that includes talking points, a letter to families and a letter to payors is available to download on ahcancalED here . As a reminder, you can view the CMS announcement on the changes here and the