Last week CMS announced changes to the Five-Star Quality Rating System that take effect on February 20, 2015. The changes will likely impact a number of our member skilled nursing facilities' ratings, resulting in a loss of one or two stars.  CMS released a preview of each center's new ratings on Friday, February 13. Information on how you can access …

Several recent articles in national journals support the validity of the Baldrige approach across several sectors, including health care and manufacturing. First, “Understanding High-Reliability Organizations: Are Baldrige Recipients Models?” published in The Journal of Healthcare Management of the American College of Healthcare Executives, asks, Is the Baldrige model a platform for achieving high reliability? Author John R. Griffith analyzed the outcomes of Baldrige Award recipients …

The Kitch Firm recently had a client that was subject to an investigative subpoena from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) which was looking into MDS/therapy/billing irregularities.  That client said, “I wish there was a service that would tell us what the OIG was going to be looking for so we could be prepared.”  That ability to “foresee the future” …

As we soldier through the winter months, it is a great time to think about emergency preparedness.  When we think about emergencies, we often think of the usual winter events: snow storms, blizzards, power outages, staffing challenges, etc.  However, as we have learned in recent years, there is more to an emergency preparedness plan that moving snow and salting parking …

Statutory/mandatory background investigation requirements vary from state to state. Questions to be asked in your facility, in relation to the statutory requirements include:  “Do we have an established protocol for pre-employment background checks?” “Are we in compliance with the statutory requirements, as well as our internal established protocol?” “Does our internal policy include checking the OIG exclusion list?” Non-compliance with …

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 16, 2014 Washington, DC – According to the Prevention and Treatment of Pressure Ulcers: Clinical Practice Guidelines; “Pressure Ulcers increase hospital costs significantly. In the US, pressure ulcer care is estimated to approach $11 billion (USD) annually, with a cost of between $500 (USD) and $70,000 (USD) per individual pressure ulcer.”1 The NPUAP defines a pressure ulcer …

 On August 21st the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published in the Federal Register the Final Rule moving hydrocodone combination products (HCPs) from Schedule III to the more-restrictive Schedule II.  As recommended by the Assistant Secretary for Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Effective October 6, 2014, the Final Rule imposes the regulatory controls …

Question:   Where do long-term care nurses document the steps taken in a full code? Answer:   No clue – there is no standard. After giving this some thought, I asked myself, “Why not?”  Why do professional nurses who are required to be certified in CPR and initiate life sustaining measures in the event of a full code, not document what was done?  …

The OIG has released an executive summary on nursing facility compliance with Federal regulations on reporting allegations of abuse or neglect.  The study included a review of: Sampled nursing facility policies related to reporting allegations of abuse or neglect Sampled nursing facility policies related to reasonable suspicions of crimes Survey of administrators from those sampled facilities The study also included …

HealthCap would like to congratulate the 2014 Bronze and Silver AHCA/NCAL Quality Award recipients.  The quality journey is an ongoing process of evaluation and a commitment to achieving success.  Communities who have enjoyed success “live” the Baldrige criteria on a daily basis, everything done within the community is evaluated against this criteria, and when necessary, systems are “re-created”.  This may …