SNFs: Join the Long Term Care Data Cooperative Today

The Long Term Care Data Cooperative is an innovative partnership between skilled nursing care providers, AHCA NCAL and leading electronic medical records companies – American HealthTech, MatrixCare and PointClickCare. Together, the Cooperative is developing a new way to collect needed skilled nursing data to help providers better understand the most effective treatments before the next public health emergency.

As a member of the Cooperative, providers receive reports that:

  • Provide information on residents at risk for adverse events including hospitalizations, polypharmacy, and infection control.
  • Provide more timely quality measures used in CMS’s value-based payment program to determine reimbursement payments. It provides nursing homes with valuable information for their improvement plans before it is too late.
  • Provide information that can help prepare for survey visits.

 

Funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Cooperative is free and easy to sign up.

  • To get started, skilled nursing care providers should email LTCDataCooperative@ahca.org to receive a participation agreement and an authorization form to allow your EMR vendor to transfer data to the Cooperative. Once registration is completed, AHCA will contact your vendor on your behalf to begin the data transfer process. That’s it!

    Contact the LTC Data Cooperative team with any questions. Visit the LTC Data Cooperative website to learn more about this innovative data project powered by skilled nursing care centers.

 

HRSA Begins Provider Relief Fund Repayment Notification

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) began transmitting emails to providers who, based on Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Reporting Period 1 submissions, will be receiving a Repayment Request Notice via USPS. In guidance to AHCA NCAL, HRSA noted:

  • Initial notification will come in the form of an alert email to the PRF listed contact(s). The email will not contain the payment specific information included in the Repayment Request Notice.
  • Following the email alert, providers will receive, via the USPS, a hard copy letter containing the Repayment Request Notice. The notice will include a Repayment Request Notification ID Number, amount to be repaid and information on HRSA’s Decision Review process (see below).
    • Providers who receive an alert email but do not receive a hard copy letter within a week of the alert email should contact the HRSA Provider Support Center at 1-844-968-4207.
    • If you have not received an alert email, you should not receive a letter.
    • As with other HRSA emails, be sure to check spam filters and email addresses to make sure the alert email is not in a spam folder.
  • Providers should not return funds to HRSA until they have conducted their own due diligence on returning funds and should use the Decision Review process as needed. Once funds have been returned, if they were returned in error, HRSA does not have a mechanism to reissue those dollars.
  • If a provider does have repayment due, such payments must be returned to HRSA 60 days from the date of the Repayment Notification Letter rather than the email alert date.

This information and more is available at HRSA’s PRF Repayment and Debt Collection webpage.

 

National Skilled Nursing Care Week Theme Announced… Cultivating Kindness

The American Health Care Association announced the theme for National Skilled Nursing Care Week 2023: ‘Cultivating Kindness.’ 2023’s theme is meant to encourage skilled nursing care centers throughout the country to host events that recognize those who live, work, and volunteer in nursing centers, while also adhering to COVID-19 safety guidelines.

AHCA President and CEO Mark Parkinson said, “We are thrilled to share that ‘Cultivating Kindness’ is the theme for next year’s National Skilled Nursing Care Week. … The theme we have chosen captures these acts of kindness that can be transformative for staff and the residents they care for. Kindness is contagious, so let’s continue cultivating and spreading it to improve lives.” For more information click here.