The Lead June 29, 2021 - LeadingAge Illinois

From the Desk of Karen Messer, President and CEO

Life Plan Communities/CCRCs:
LeadingAge Life Plan Community (LPC) July Advisory Call

Supportive Living:
Supportive Living Program Waiver Amendment and Dementia Care Sites Update

Nursing and Rehabilitation:
NHSN updates

Independent/Subsidized Housing:
President Nominates Leaders for Key HUD Positions

Home Health and Hospice:
Proposed Home Health Payment Update Rule Posted

Other:
Congressional Round Table on Care Economy and Caregivers

From the Desk of Karen Messer, President and CEO
U.S. Congress is on recess until July 12, but a two-track approach to infrastructure continues. The President and Congressional leadership continue to look for ways to move forward both the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which would focus on “hard” infrastructure like transportation, roads, and broadband while preparing for a large reconciliation package that would address the proposals laid out in the President’s American Jobs and Families plans. Be on the lookout for alerts from LeadingAge National and make sure you respond by contacting your members of Congress to push for our aging services priorities.

With gratitude,

Karen

Top Stories:

CMMS targeted COVID-19 Training for Frontline Nursing Home Staff and Management: Facility Required Certification of Compliance
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) issued a notice on Friday to Long Term Care Facilities, Assisted Living communities, Home Health, Hospice, and Home Nursing Agencies on CMMS targeted COVID-19 Training for Frontline Nursing Home Staff and Management: Facility Required Certification of Compliance.

Facilities must certify compliance with the emergency rule requiring all frontline clinical staff, management staff, and newly hired staff to complete the CMMS Targeted COVID-19 Training for Frontline Nursing Home Staff and Management. IDPH instructs facilities to read their letter on this issue, complete the appropriate forms provided, and return to the Department as instructed.

New Hire Certification
Final Facility Certification (Skilled Nursing)
Final Certification

Registration Open for LeadingAge Provider Relief Reporting Requirements Webinar
Registration is now open for the July 27 webinar from 1-2 p.m., CST. The first report will be due September 30. The timing of the webinar will allow for time to synthesize additional HRSA resources that will be made available on July 1 when the reporting portal opens.

Involuntary Transfer or Discharge of a Resident for Late Payment or Nonpayment Executive Order Expiring
As we reported last week, the Governor’s executive order on Involuntary Transfer or Discharge of a Resident for Late Payment or Nonpayment Executive Order is expiring July 24. After July 24, 2021, involuntary transfers or discharges for late payment or nonpayment will be permitted.

Section 14 of the Governor’s Executive Order 2020-35 suspended the provisions of the Nursing Home Care Act, which permitted long-term care facilities to initiate an involuntary transfer or discharge of a resident for late payment or nonpayment.

IDPH Notice on State-Authorized Personnel Access
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) issued a reminder that authorization for entry to facilities should be granted for state-authorized personnel including but not limited to:

Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program,
Office of State Guardian,
Office of Health Care Regulation
the Legal Advocacy Service, and
community-service providers or third parties serving as agents of the state for purposes of providing telemedicine, transitional services to community-based living, and any other supports related to existing consent decrees and court-mandated actions, including, but not limited to, the prime agencies and sub-contractors of the Comprehensive Program serving the Williams and Colbert Consent Decree Class Members.

CMS Announces New Head of Medicaid
CMS announced that Daniel Tsai has been appointed Deputy Administrator for the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program. Tsai has served as Massachusetts’ Medicaid Director and as Assistant Secretary for MassHealth. This is not a Senate-confirmed position; he will start on July 6.

Life Plan Communities/CCRCs:

LeadingAge Life Plan Community (LPC) July Advisory Call
The LeadingAge Life Plan Community (LPC) July Advisory Call is an open meeting for LPC members set for July 15 at 12:00 p.m. CST. Topic and guest speakers will focus on Communication and Marketing for Life Plan Communities today and in the future. Please email Janine Finck-Boyle at LeadingAge for the zoom link or to ask any questions.

Supportive Living:

Supportive Living Program Waiver Amendment and Dementia Care Sites Update
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) has released a Public Comment Notice and a proposed Supportive Living Program (SLP) waiver amendment. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reviewed the Illinois Statewide Transition Plan for the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver and determined the HCBS waiver for the Supportive Living Program (SLP) regarding Dementia Care Settings (DCS) was out of compliance. This amendment proposes changes to bring the HCBS SLP waiver back into compliance. The amendment proposes that SLP dementia care setting residents would not be required to have an identified need for delayed egress as a safety intervention in order to receive services. HFS asks that you post this Public Comment Notice in an area(s) where residents/families can see it.

Nursing and Rehabilitation:

NHSN updates
The CDC sent an email to NHSN users announcing future changes to the long-term care facility modules. Changes will be made on the evening of July 8 and accompanying resources, such as Tables of Instructions and other resource documents, will also be updated. CDC will be hosting a webinar on July 8 and July 12, both at 12 p.m. CST, to detail these changes. Register in advance for this webinar here. An overview of planned changes are as follows:

POC testing tool: adding several new tests to test type; adding pop-up alerts for duplicate entries; adding a confirmation message for deleting entries
Resident Impact and Facility Capacity Pathway: enhanced layout including modified options for indicating vaccination status of individuals testing positive
Ventilator Capacity Pathway: this pathway will be removed
Therapeutics Pathway: therapeutics options will be modified to reflect changes to available therapeutics
COVID-19 Vaccination Reporting modules: adding a data quality pop-up alert; modification to update CCN field when providers update the CCN

Independent/Subsidized Housing:

President Nominates Leaders for Key HUD Positions
President Biden has announced the nominations for Federal Housing Commissioner and for the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). Julia Gordon, the president of the National Community Stabilization Trust, has been nominated for FHA Commissioner, and Dave Uejio, the acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has been nominated as FHEO Assistant Secretary. The nominations are pending approval in the Senate.

Home Health and Hospice:

Proposed Home Health Payment Update Rule Posted
The rule can be found here and does the following:

Proposes a 1.8% increase in the home health payment, consistent with the statutory home health payment rate update
Includes monitoring and analysis of the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM)
Proposes to maintain the CY 2021 low utilization payment adjustment (LUPA) thresholds for CY2022 and to recalibrate the PDGM case mix weights, functional levels, and comorbidity adjustment subgroups for CY2022.
Proposes to expand the home health value based purchasing model nationwide;
Proposes updates to home infusion therapy service requirements;
Proposes updates to home health quality reporting program;
Proposes procedures for implementation of new survey and enforcement requirements in the hospice program and solicits comments on these new procedures and programs.

Comments are due on August 27.

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Other:

Congressional Round Table on Care Economy and Caregivers
On Wednesday, June 30 at 9 a.m. CST, the Congressional Task Force on Aging and Families and the Democratic Women’s Caucus will host a virtual round table on how to improve the care economy to support “sandwich generation family caregivers” and their intergenerational caregiving responsibilities. Panelists include Kim Parker, Pew Research Center and Karen Lindsay Marshall, National Alliance for Caregiving. A “sandwich generation” caregiver will also be invited. You can watch the event livestream at this link.

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