Friends:
Thank you for all you are doing. We are experiencing the predicted COVID-19 spike in our sector and communities across Maryland. A very small handful of long-term care centers have more than 10 positive cases among staff, residents, and patients combined. Here are two important resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sites that I am sure you are tracking:
Based on data, our sector and others should be prudent about testing. Federal and/or state requirements could trigger additional testing.
Second booster doses are being increasingly ordered for people of the age and clinical background of those in our sector. Providers are advised to continue in their work to administer vaccines and boosters as clinically appropriate. Should you require state assistance in the near term, please contact John Watson and his team at the Maryland Department of Health (MDH). It is likely that the MDH PROPS reporting system will soon ask for second booster data.
On PROPS reporting, MDH has rolled out a voluntary weekly report for assisted living campuses with 50 beds or more. In this voluntary reporting, MDH is targeting approximately 160 assisted living campuses. MDH is holding a Learning Session for assisted living reporting in PROPS this Thursday, April 21 from 10 am – 10:30 am. Those interested can join by Google Meet via this link: meet.google.com/vqb-xmpz-ara. Or, join by phone via +1 402-867-1297 (PIN: 503345069).
An important reminder, providers in our sector who focus on these will have a competitive advantage:
- Quality care.
- Workforce innovation.
- Sector-directed care delivery redesign.
- Strategic expansion of SNFs into home and community-based care and assisted living.
STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE: AHCA Revenue Cycle Management Academy Training
AHCA offers a five-module online training program titled Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) Academy which offers training about a holistic interdisciplinary approach toward revenue management. RCM can be implemented in a building, more broadly or as an organization-wide approach to enhance revenue by minimizing losses from payments that too often are unnecessarily lost or overlooked. Individuals will need to login to ahcancalED with their AHCA/NCAL usernames and passwords to register for Revenue Cycle Management Academy. For assistance obtaining usernames and passwords, members should e-mail educate@ahca.org with their name and facility contact information.
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.
