Overview

See the link to the DHHS website (TRACIE) to use as a resource for the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule effective November 2017

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A revised CMS memo (10/28/2016) re Infection Control Breaches that require public health referrals

Save the Date Training for Phase 1 Implementation of New Nursing Home Regulations

Need for Training: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is developing an online training for Regional Offices (RO), State Survey Agencies (SA), providers and other stakeholders on the new Nursing Home Regulations. – Training Content and Availability: The online training will include information about Phase 1 of new Nursing Home Regulations, and will be available to all parties starting November 18, 2016. – Mandatory Requirement: All Long Term Care (LTC) surveyors are required to complete this training in order to be able to conduct any LTC surveys after November 28, 2016.

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This is a reminder that the annual Long Term Care survey is currently underway. LTC surveys this year are due on October 28, 2016. Completion of these online surveys is mandatory. You should have been contacted multiple times with your log-in information by email from the Department (sent to the Administrator). If you did not receive these communications, or if you have any questions, please notify the Division of Health Informatics at ra-dohbhssurveys@pa.gov or call 717-547-3660.

Along with the PAHAN bulletin, as distributed earlier, PADOH has placed this specific message on the message board:

The Pennsylvania Department of Health (PADOH), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other state health departments, is currently investigating an outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia bloodstream infections. While the investigation is still in its early stages, contaminated prefilled saline flush syringes manufactured by Nurse Assist, Haltom City, Texas have been implicated as the source. The PADOH Bureau of Laboratories performed testing of Nurse Assist 10-milliliter saline flush syringes that were obtained from a Pennsylvania long-term care facility with reported cases; all unopened syringes tested were found to have been contaminated with B. cepacia.

PADOH recommends that any health care facilities, providers, or anyone else who have received Nurse Assist prepackaged three-, five- and 10-milliliter syringes of saline flush immediately discontinue using and sequester these saline products until further notice. At this time, DO NOT discard/destroy the products. DO NOT send flushes back to suppliers. All products should be placed together in a locked office. Guidance on the sequestered saline flush syringes will be forthcoming.

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Notice

10/5/2016

Transmittal 160, dated September 23, 2016 is being rescinded and replaced by Transmittal 161, dated September 28, 2016 to correct minor formatting edits within the transmittal table and table of contents pages. All other information remains the same.

A Summary for Clinicians 2016

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See attachment

This transmittal became effective 9/23/16

The Five Star Preview Reports will be available on September 20th. To access these reports, select the CASPER Reporting link located on the CMS QIES Systems for Providers page. Once in the CASPER Reporting system, select the 'Folders' button and access the Five Star Report in your 'st LTC facid' folder, where st is the 2-character postal code of the state in which your facility is located and facid is the state-assigned Facility ID of your facility.

Nursing Home Compare will update with August's Five Star data on September 28, 2016.

Important Note: The 5 Star Help line (800-839-9290) will be available September 26, 2016 through September 30, 2016. Please direct your inquiries to BetterCare@cms.hhs.gov if the Help Line is not available.

October 2016

Data Collection Software: jRAVEN v1.4.0 The Resident Assessment Validation and Entry System (jRAVEN) was developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). jRAVEN is a free Java based software application which provides an option for facilities to collect and maintain MDS Assessment data for subsequent submission to the appropriate state and/or national data repository. jRAVEN displays the MDS Item Sets similar to the paper version of the forms. Please consult the jRAVEN Installation and User Guides for additional information.

jRAVEN v1.4.0 is now available for download under the related links section at the bottom of this webpage and includes the following enhancements to jRAVEN v1.3.0:

• v1.14.1 of the MDS 3.0 Item Sets
• v2.00.0 of the MDS 3.0 Data Specifications
• v2.00.4 of the MDS 3.0 Data Specifications Errata
• Additional Help Content
• 'Outdated' Assessment Status
• Informational Message Updates
• Reporting Enhancements
• Import functionality compliant with the MDS 3.0 Data Specifications

  For additional technical support or questions related to jRAVEN please contact the QTSO Help Desk by calling 800-339-9313 or by email to help@qtso.com

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Final Rule

List Attached

See Attachment

Video and brochure from Dr. Joseph Hanlon. Dr. Hanlon was on the team that updated the 2015 Beers Criteria. The purpose of the presentation and brochure are to instruct staff on how to reduce falls by reducing CNS drug burden. The video is about 20 minutes in length and it is just excellent.

View video: CNS Drug Burden and Serious Falls in Older Nursing Home Residents (Make take up to 2 minutes to download wmv file and requires Windows Media Player to play)

Educational brochure: How to Prevent Falls in Older Nursing Home Residents by Reducing CNS Medication Burden

CMS has posted a document that provides responses to some MDS-specific questions that were received during the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program (SNF QRP) training events.

Topics include:

• MDS 3.0 Assessments relevant to the SNF QRP
• Part A PPS Discharge Combinations
• Section GG, and
• Pressure Ulcer quality measure (QM)

Please see attached CMS memo dated 9/2/2016 that addresses the new process for Office of Civil Rights (OCR) clearance for new providers and change of ownership (CHOW).

OCR Clearance Process

September 1, 2016

A new version (V2.00.1) of the MDS 3.0 Data Specifications was posted. This version is scheduled to become effective October 1, 2016. This FINAL version incorporates the changes identified in errata V2.00.4 for the previously posted DRAFT version of the specifications

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