AHRQ sponsored the development of the Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture in response to requests for a survey in this setting. This survey is designed specifically for nursing home providers and other staff and asks for their opinions about the culture of patient safety and healthcare quality in their nursing home. Access the survey and other materials HERE.
CMS Revises State Operations Manual
Appendix Q to the State Operations Manual (SOM), which provides guidance for identifying immediate jeopardy, has been revised. The revision creates a Core Appendix Q that will be used by surveyors of all provider and supplier types in determining when to cite immediate jeopardy. CMS has drafted subparts to Appendix Q that focus on immediate jeopardy concerns occurring in nursing …
CMS Enforcement of Non-Improving Late Adopters
Since 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has seen a reduction of in long-stay nursing home residents who were receiving an antipsychotic medication. Despite the success of the National Partnership, as of January 2019, there are 235 late adopter nursing homes that have been cited for noncompliance with federal regulations related to unnecessary medications or psychotropic medications two …
Interview with 2019 AGS Beers Criteria panel member
In an interview with Dr. Nicole J. Brandt, PharmD, MBA, BCGP, BCPP, FASCP, Annals of Long-Term Care discussed the latest updates to the 2019 Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults. Dr. Brandt helped decide the new 2019 update and, in this interview, explains how the panel identified the medication or medication classes added to the list …
2019 AHRQ Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture is Available
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality developed this survey to assess safety culture in long-term care facilities. This year’s survey found positive results in “Overall Perceptions of Resident Safety” and “Feedback and Communication About Incidents” but revealed areas of improvement in “Staffing” and “Communication Openness”. A link to the full report can be downloaded HERE. An Executive Summary can …
State Survey Agencies Must Verify Corrected Deficiencies
A new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General determined that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) guidance to State agencies on verifying nursing homes’ correction of deficiencies and maintaining documentation to support verification needed to be improved. It was recommended that CMS take specific actions to (1) improve CMS’s guidance …
National Emerging Leadership Summit Announced
Read the NAB announcement below, this is a great opportunity for new Administrators to grow professionally! The 10th annual National Emerging Leadership Summit (NELS) for Health and Aging Services Executives will be held in Washington, D.C. from July 16 – 18, 2019. The three-day Summit, unique in its kind, is geared towards the enrichment of leadership skills for emerging health service …
Is a Fall Efficacy Scale Reliable, Valid for OAs With PD?
A study that was recently published in Parkinson’s Disease found that The Fall Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I), an assessment questionnaire, was found to be reliable and valid to measure the fear of falling during on- and off-drug phases in older adults with Parkinson disease (PD). You can read about the findings at managedhealthcareconnect.com: https://www.managedhealthcareconnect.com/content/fall-efficacy-scale-reliable-valid-oas-pd?hmpid=ZXJpY2EuaG9sbWFuQGhlYWx0aGNhcHVzYS5jb20=
CMS Emergency Preparedness – Updates to Appendix Z of the State Operations Manual (SOM)
Read the latest updates to Appendix Z of the SOM that reflect changes to add emerging infectious diseases to the definition of all-hazards approach, new Home Health Agency (HHA) citations and clarifications under alternate source power and emergency standby systems. https://healthcapusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/QSO19-06-ALL.pdf