September 27, 2024

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The Latest News

It's Convention Week!!

Please forgive delayed responses this week as all staff are attending the 74th Annual Convention & Trade Show!

We will return to normal business on Monday, September 30th.

CMS Considering Expanding Nursing Home Data Reporting Requirements

McKnight’s Long-Term Care News (9/26, Marselas) reports CMS is weighing an expansion of "how much information nursing homes must record in the Minimum Data Set, potentially adding reporting for patients outside of Medicare to requirements." The agency "has asked for input on its plans to possibly extend the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program to include all residents receiving short-term nursing home care – regardless of their payer."

AHCA/NCAL Announces Future Leaders and DELP Scholars for 2024

AHCA/NCAL has selected 54 professionals as Future Leaders of Long Term Care in America for its 2024 program and 15 individuals as Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP) scholars for its 2024-2025 class. The programs kick off this week with leadership training for the participants in Washington, D.C.

The 2024 Kansas Future Leader is Breanna Gregory, Executive Director, Nottingham Health and Rehabilitation Center – Axiom, KS

Mandatory Provider Enrollment Off-Cycle Revalidation for ALL SNFs

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued an announcement in the MLN Connects newslette r that all skilled nursing facility (SNF) providers will receive off-cycle provider enrollment revalidation notices from their Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) to collect additional data on ownership, managerial, and related party information not previously required . This information is to be submitted in a new Appendix on the Form CMS-855A (09/24) version.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Be on the lookout for a letter from your MAC from October through December 2024 regarding a mandatory off-cycle revalidation. Approximately one-third of SNFs will receive these notices each month.
Providers will have 90 days from the date of the letter to respond and submit the newly required information into the M edicare Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System (PECOS) system to keep their provider enrollment status active.
The requested information is quite complex and affects every SNF, regardless of size or ownership characteristics.
SNF providers no longer report in Sections 5 and 6 of the provider enrollment form, but in a new SNF-specific Appendix. Instructions for the new SNF Appendix are here.
In addition to SNF revalidation timeline discussed above, the new Form CMS-855A must be used for all of the following provider enrollment transactions effective October 1, 2024:

a. Initial Enrollment

b. Revalidations

c. Reactivations

d. CHOW

Note: If the status of any SNF transaction for a-d above prior to October 1 is “pending” in PECOS as of October 1, the MAC will request the new Appendix be completed by the SNF provider.

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

Review the new Form CMS-855A and the new GUIDANCE FOR SNF ATTACHMENT ON FORM CMS-855A.
CMS and AHCA/NCAL suggest providers seek counsel from an attorney to help interpret the new SNF reporting requirements.
Begin compiling the new information that will be required to be reported ASAP.
Be on the lookout for an upcoming AHCA webinar on this new SNF provider enrollment reporting requirements.

Please contact Dan Ciolek or Martin Allen at AHCA/NCAL with questions.

New CMS Code For COVID-19 Vaccinations Creates A "Moving Target" For Long Term Care Providers

American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing Curriculum Development Specialist Jessie McGill, RN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, wrote in Provider Magazine (9/11, 151K) that starting October 1, CMS "will add a new item, O0350, to the Minimum Data Set (MDS) to indicate whether a resident’s COVID-19 vaccination is up-to-date." To code the new "item accurately, long term care staff will need to stay current with the recommendations from the" CDC for COVID-19 vaccinations. But, McGill said, the changing guidance "creates a moving target that will require the close attention of long term care providers." The article reviewed "the instructions in the draft Long-Term Care Facility Resident Assessment Instrument 3.0 User’s Manual (RAI User’s Manual)1 and CDC recommendations as of June 2024."