This week, the Baker Administration announced that 26 health care organizations statewide will participate as Community Partners, in the next step of the rollout of MassHealth’s Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program. The intent is for community-based health care and human service organizations to partner with the ACOs to integrate and improve member health outcomes of approximately 60,000 MassHealth members with complex long term medical and/or behavioral health needs. The ACO program is funded in part by $1.8 billion in federal

Best Practices in Person-Centered Care at the End of Life 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. We encourage facilities to send members of the team that

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released new forms, including a new entrance conference worksheet and facility matrix, as well as new and updated investigative protocols, referred to as pathways that will be used for the new long term care (LTC) survey process starting on November 28, 2017. These forms are posted on the CMS Nursing Homes webpage here. Our national association, AHCA, has prepared a memorandum on this topic. Please click here to access it. For

“It is my dream to provide the same loving and compassionate care that my grandmother received in a nursing home to my future patients.” Katherine St. Onge, an Activities Assistant at Orchard Cove, credits her beloved grandmother as the reason she is now pursuing a career in occupational therapy, after witnessing the key role that occupational therapists played in returning her grandmother’s life back to normal after a knee amputation. She chose a concentration in Motor Development Therapy in her

The Department of Public Health, Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality will be conducting three webinars on the new long term care survey process (LTCSP) developed by CMS. Additional information regarding registration will be announced once available. Facilities will be asked to participate in the webinar for their survey region: Tuesday, October 10th at 1:30 PM: West Region Tuesday, October 17th at 1:30 PM: North Region Tuesday, October 24th at 1:30 PM: South Region The purpose of this training

On August 28, 2017, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services through its Contractor (UMASS) issued guidance on preparing for the filing of the Final Direct Care Add-on Compliance Report. The agency notes that the webform to submit the Final Direct Care Add-on Compliance report will be available for use as of 9/4/17. Facilities will receive a second e-mail announcing when the form is live; please do not attempt to log in until you have received that second e-mail

With the hearing for the Nursing Home Stabilization bill quickly approaching on September 11, 2017 at 1:00pm in State House Hearing Room A-1, the Association is mobilizing a grassroots campaign. We urge members to participate in our efforts by asking staff, residents, and family members to make calls to their Representatives and Senators and urge them to cosign written testimony in support of the bill. These calls have been incredibly helpful in the past and resulted in 120+ cosponsors. Please

The following forms and notices that are issued by providers to Medicare patients are now available in a large print Word version as well as the PDF and original Word format in English and Spanish. CMS-R-131 - Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage CMS-10124 - Detailed Explanation of Non-Coverage CMS-10123 - Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage For more information see the Beneficiary Notification Initiative website. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-General-Information/BNI/

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched a new Jimmo Settlement Agreement webpage for the Medicare community. The webpage includes: Background on the settlement Links to resources Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) It also includes the following Important Message About Jimmo Settlement from CMS. Source: CMS’s Jimmo Settlement Webpage

Research conducted by AHCA/NCAL last year found that the rehospitalization rates in nursing facilities with at least one RN certified in gerontological nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) consistently have run at least two percentage points lower than the national average since 2011. Lower rehospitalization rates will be key to success under the new CMS Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program. CMS currently is tracking skilled nursing rehospitalization rates on for the new SNF VBP program. Under the VBP program