• Invasive Group A Streptococcus Infections • MassHealth Issues Family Assistance Pathways NF Bulletin • MassHealth Provider Online Service Center Pre-login and Post-login Page Refresh • ePOC Transition to iQIES • OSHA Suspension of COVID-19 Record Keeping and Reporting • Updated MassHealth Provider Service Center Hours

• Informal Dispute Resolution Meeting • 2025 Scholarship Application Now Available

• Nursing Home Compare and Five Star Update • 2567s and Plan of Correction • CMS Announces Launch of Fraud Defense Operations Center

Don't Miss Out!

CMS recently posted an updated version of the draft Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Item Sets v1.20.1v3 and draft Item Matrix v1.20.1v3. These are located in the Downloads section on CMS’ Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) Manual page.

CMS has posted the updated Appendix PP of the State Operations Manual (SOM) as outlined in QSO-25-14-NH.

The June 2025 Quarterly Confidential Feedback Reports for the fiscal year (FY) 2026 Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) Program are now available to download via the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES).

On June 18, 2025, CMS released QSO-25-19-ALL Release of CMS-2567: Statement of Deficiencies and Plan of Correction. CMS is updating their practice to align with the Nursing Home CMS-2567 process already in regulation. The Nursing Home CMS-2567 regulation allows the 2567 to be released within 14 days of transmission to the facility. This update does not change the current process for nursing homes.

On June 18, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released QSO-25-20-NH Updates to Nursing Home Compare. In the memo, CMS notes several changes to how items are displayed on the website related to performance data for nursing home chains, standard survey cycles for the inspection rating, updated long-stay antipsychotic measures, and removal of the COVID-19 vaccine measures.