News

The House passed its first fiscal year 2020 appropriations bills last week. The $985 billion package includes funding for Older Americans Act (OAA) programs that will help millions of low-income seniors and people with disabilities.  

In a response to a request for comments on how the federal government measures poverty, LeadingAge provided insight on how potential changes to the poverty threshold’s calculation could negatively impact older adults and aging services. 

Congress is getting down to business and moving funding and policy issues that impact aging services providers. 

LeadingAge has provided an overview of recent developments in Housing & Urban Development policies that affect providers of affordable housing. This update features the latest news on the voluntary NSPIRE initiative, HUD instructions on enforcement actions if a property refuses to be inspected, instructions to inspectors to collect information only on carbon monoxide detectors, 14-day scheduling of inspections, and the four reasons HUD Multifamily field offices can delay inspections.  

Effective June 8, 2019, Livanta replaced KEPRO as the Beneficiary and Family Centered Care (BFCC) Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for Minnesota. This serves as an important reminder that skilled nursing facilities need to take action in relation to the transition to Livanta.  

LeadingAge comments on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Prospective Payment System (PPS) proposed rule are now available. Members can also access a fact sheet and summary of  the proposed. 

Observation days are gaining some interest in Congress as more and more consumers express concerns regarding surprise medical bills. 

While expressing a few concerns, Argentum, LeadingAge and other associations representing older adult services called the federal government’s proposed salary threshold of $35,308, under which executive, administrative, professional and certain other employees would be eligible for overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week, reasonable. 

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is shifting the way in which it works with non-Veterans Affairs (VA) providers to expand the provider network and improve customer service for veterans and timeliness of payments for providers.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has officially posted a draft version of the new MDS 3.0 RAI Manual v1.17 Oct. 1, 2019 that will help Skilled Nursing Facilities with transitioning to the Patient-Drive Payment Model.  

The 2019 Adult Day Services Financial Indicators Study has been launched, and we strongly encourage adult day members to participate. The study, now in its ninth year, offers Adult Day Services members the opportunity to benchmark their individual centers to the rest of the field and determine their financial health and performance.  

With the need to provide qualified and competent staff in Skilled Nursing Facilities, it may be challenging for a setting to find useable resources and tools to determine competency. LeadingAge excited to announce that the Staff Competency Toolkit© is now available to members.

More than 4,300 older adults who had found solace and affordability in their HUD-assisted homes will now wonder about the stability of their housing as the result of a new proposed rule that would end the practice of having “mixed status” families in federally assisted housing.   

LeadingAge has shared a draft comment letter on the recently issued proposed rule to change the salary threshold for overtime eligibility that would raise the salary level for exemption from the minimum wage and overtime rules.  

LeadingAge recently released guidance for coding Risk for Pressure Ulcers in section M0100 and M0150 of the MDS, which includes an overview of each section, key definitions, an overview of risk factors and steps for assessment.  

The updated skilled nursing facility Provider Preview Reports from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are available for review. Members have until May 30 to review their performance data prior to it being displayed on the Nursing Home Compare site in July. 

The U.S. Housing & Urban Development Department is proposing changes to the national physical inspection process. Because HUD’s in-person listening sessions on this topic filled so quickly, D. J. Lavoy, Director of the Office of the Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC), has agreed to provide a special opportunity for LeadingAge members.  

The next submission deadline for the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) is fast approaching. MDS data for Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2018 must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on May 15.  

Changes are coming to care centers regarding hazardous medications disposals. To help your organization be ready and compliant, make plans now to participate in a Hazardous Medications – Delivery to Disposal webinar on May 16 from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. 

The deadline for submission of Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) data for the reporting period Jan. 1–March 31 is May 15. Timely and accurate submission of PBJ data is critical, because CMS uses the data to calculate staffing measures in Nursing Home Compare and the Five-Star Quality Rating System. The following rules apply: