HFAM Update
National Guard Update, POC Tests, MBON, General Assembly
Plus - Scorpion Protection Services, Nursing Home Transmittal #283,
MDH Webinar Recap, Telehealth Survey, and Antibody Testing Reminder
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Friends:
Please note that Maryland Department of Health (MDH) sent an email this morning to Administrators and Directors of Nursing at each skilled nursing and rehabilitation center in Maryland regarding limited Maryland Guard staffing assistance. This email stated the below and included a chart with the types of assistance offered by the National Guard:
"The state of Maryland has a contingent of National Guard members that have been made available to assist skilled nursing facilities. MDH can deploy a team of 3-4 members for up to 5 days that can assist with functions outlined below. Please advise if your facility would like to utilize a National Guard team. Please send an email to Marcy Overstreet (marcy.overstreet@maryland.gov) to request a deployment of one of the teams to your facility by noon on Sunday, January 30th, 2022. Please disregard this email if you have already spoken to Marcy or Kyle from the Surge Operations Center yesterday. We appreciate all of the hard work and dedication of you and your personnel during these challenging times."
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Over the last couple of weeks, members of the Maryland National Guard have been dedicated to the mission of warehousing and delivering POC tests to skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, assisted living campuses, and continuing care retirement communities. Beginning next week, with the coordination of MDH, the Guard will add staffing assistance to their mission— most likely with twenty-five teams of four soldiers.
On a weekly basis, MDH will target centers for assistance by looking at online staffing data via CRISP (soon to be PROPS), emailing an initial group of 25 target centers, and go from there. It will be critical that administrators and directors of nursing keep an eye out for these emails and accept or decline the assistance.
I want to offer my deep appreciation to MDH, the National Guard leadership, and most importantly the members of the Guard who have been activated to assist our sector with this critical mission during this urgent time.
POC Tests:
The Maryland National Guard coordinated by MDH will continue to deliver POC tests to our sector weekly. An important reminder is that providers are ordering those tests in their CRISP (soon to be PROPS) reporting via the pulldown menu. MDH distributes the tests based on census. As mentioned, the National Guard has been delivering POC test kits to all nursing homes and other providers in Maryland. Facilities received OTC kits that should be sufficient to cover testing of staff, and some visitors, vendors, and volunteers. MDH is working to distribute additional BinaxNow Pro Kits to support the testing of residents. We recognize that the brand of the test provided may not be consistent as MDH is securing and distributing whatever products they can obtain. For questions about POC tests for nursing homes, please contact John Watson at John.watson@maryland.gov
Maryland Board of Nursing:
Please read through this important notice from the Maryland Board of Nursing for licensees and certificate holders with a December 28, 2021 or January 28, 2022 expiration date and for employers. The main takeaways include:
- MBON can now process renewal applications submitted online and will process applications in the order in which they were received.
- There may be some delays in the processing of online renewal applications mainly due to a backlog of online applications that accumulated as a result of the MDH cyber incident that occurred in December.
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Licensees and certificate holders with an expiration date of December 28, 2021 or January 28, 2022 should submit a renewal application no later than 11:59 PM on February 19, 2022 in order to ensure that their license or certificate remains active until the Board is able to process their renewal application.
- All renewal applicants should keep the electronic or paper receipt received from the Board nursing during the application process to prove that they submitted a renewal application.
Maryland General Assembly:
Today marks day number 17 of the 444 meeting of Maryland General Assembly. Even at this early point, our team has reviewed several hundred pieces of legislation. It will be a busy session filled with both challenges and opportunities relative to issues of quality care for Marylanders in need.
Here is a piece of legislative testimony to provide you with a small snapshot of what we have been working on: SB 230 “Health Occupations - Service Members, Veterans, and Military Spouses - Temporary Licensure, Certification, Registration, and Permitting,” which we support.
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As Always:
- Focus on what is in your control and not what is out of your control.
- Let’s get those boosters and the flu vaccine in the arms of people.
- Overcommunicate – with residents, patients, families, staff, and government partners.
- Adapt and innovate.
- Rely on your partnerships.
- Speak up when you need help.
- Double efforts on infectious disease protocols, training, and operations.
- Take and document your action; keep a timeline.
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CLICK HERE for the Dr. Katz Video, and please see the Donning and Doffing Checklist we have been sharing.
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Joe DeMattos
President and CEO
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Scorpion Protective Services
Please see this letter from Scorpion Protection Services to nursing home and assisted living providers. With more than 60 years combined law enforcement experience, founders Colt Bracken and Larry Smith started Scorpion Protective Services in 2018. They utilize active and retired police officers, military service personnel, and certified security officers to provide services such as armed and unarmed uniformed officers, K-9 Patrol Handlers, as well as officers in business attire, appropriate for the assignment. Their team provides not only a secure environment, but an enhanced experience for those residing in or visiting healthcare centers. They have worked to create the best security company geared towards nursing homes and assisted living communities throughout Maryland.
Again, please read the full letter for additional information. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more, please contact Larry Smith at 410-591-0246 or Colt Bracken at 410-698-5001 or via email at scorpioncolt45@gmail.com.
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Nursing Home Transmittal #283
Please see this recently issued Transmittal (Nursing Home #283/Chronic Hospital Transmittal #1/Special Pediatric Hospital #1) which explains under what circumstances providers are required to submit the Private Daily Room Rate (PDRR) form.
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MDH Webinar Recap
Yesterday, the Maryland Department of Health held a webinar call to update the long-term care sector on COVID-19 developments and best practices. The call was recorded, in case you were unable to join or would like to review the topics discussed, which included:
- COVID-19 Epi Summary
- Daily Reporting Requirement
- POC Test Result Reporting Review
- FAQs
- Q&A
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Help Inform Future Telehealth Survey
The Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC ) seeks participants for an online telehealth survey
NORC at the University of Chicago was competitively selected by the Maryland Health Care Commission to conduct a study on the impact of telehealth as it relates to audio-only and audio-visual technologies as required by the Preserve Telehealth Access Act of 2021, passed by the Maryland General Assembly. The law requires a survey of health care providers to inform the development of recommendations regarding telehealth coverage and reimbursement for audio-only and audio-video relative to in-person care; recommendations will be considered during the 2023 session of the Maryland General Assembly.
NORC will be conducting an online survey of health care providers permitted to use telehealth in care delivery by the State Health Occupation Board to assess their experience with both audio-only and audio-visual telehealth services. NORC will mail survey invitations to a randomly selected sample of providers across the State in February 2022. The letters will invite providers to go to a website and enter a PIN number to take a survey. The survey will take about 30 minutes to complete and is voluntary and confidential.
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What: You may receive a letter from NORC at the University of Chicago requesting your participation in an online survey regarding your experiences providing telehealth services using audio video or audio only technology. The letter will contain a link and pin number to complete the online survey. The survey should take no more than 30 minutes .
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Who: Maryland health care providers who receive a survey invitation.
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When: Survey invitations will be sent in February 2022; the survey will be fielded for about eight weeks.
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Why: If you receive a letter from NORC, please respond. Your survey responses are VERY IMPORTANT to inform recommendations on telehealth audio visual and audio only coverage and reimbursement for Maryland’s 2023 legislative session. NORC was competitively selected by MHCC to conduct a study on the impact of telehealth as it relates to audio only and audio visual technologies, as required by the Preserve Telehealth Access Act of 2021 passed by the Maryland General Assembly.
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Survey responses are confidential and will be used in aggregate only. The information you provide will only be disclosed to the researchers at NORC who are conducting the study. Please contact NORC at mdtelehealthsurvey@norc.org to learn more.
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Reminder! Antibody Testing:
Governor Hogan announced another round of antibody level testing at long-term care facilities, similar to a previous study in August 2021 which helped lead to the offering of a third dose COVID vaccine booster vaccine. The plan is for MDH to enroll 1000+ residents over the next few days and have the final report available in two weeks for possibly recommending an additional booster dose. It is critically important that our skilled nursing and rehabilitation center members participate and assist in this study.
Those interested in participating should contact:
Sohail M Qarni , MD MPH, FAAFP
Medical Director, and Senior Medical Advisor Testing and Vaccination Recovery Task Force
Maryland Department of Health, Prevention and Health Promotion Administration
(o): 410-767-6717
(c): 410-790-0373
Please click below buttons for additional information.
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Visit our website to view all previous HFAM alerts, as well as guidance
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