Lead June 23 2022
Nursing and Rehabilitation:
OIG Commences Forensic Audit of Nursing Homes Use of PRF
Housing:
LeadingAge Priorities Reflected in House HUD Funding Bill
HUD CSPs: Do You Have a Generator?
IHDA Provides Nearly $75 million for Affordable Housing Development
Home and Community Based Services:
Home Health CAHPS Survey Previews Available
HFS Seeks Input on HCBS Settings and Heightened Scrutiny
Other:
Mather Lifeways Year 4 Age Well Study Findings
Top Stories:
Complimentary Webinar for LeadingAge Illinois Members
Learn How Your CNA Pay Scale Information Will Be Used by HFS to Determine Provider Funding Under the New Medicaid Rate Methodology
We are strongly encouraging you to attend a complimentary webinar for LeadingAge Illinois members on Tuesday, June 28 at 10:00 am Central Time to learn how your CNA pay scale information will be used by HFS to determine provider funding under the new Medicaid rate methodology.
Yesterday, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) sent out a provider notice to all skilled nursing facilities about collecting certified nurse assistant (CNA) employee experience/promotion information and how that information will be used to determine provider funding under the new Medicaid rate methodology. LeadingAge Illinois advises you do NOT alter your CNA pay rate nor submit pay rate scales to HFS until we finalize with HFS how this data will be used and paid for. The Department set a date of June 30 for submission of this data so your attendance at our June 28 webinar will be key in ensuring you craft and submit this pay scale data to align with the final HFS rule – assuming you plan to participate in the CNA incentive payment portion of rate reform.
Nursing and Rehabilitation:
OIG Commences Forensic Audit of Nursing Homes Use of PRF
It appears that the Office of the Inspector General has completed its audit of hospitals’ use of Provider Relief Funds and has now notified 30 selected nursing homes across the U.S. that they are the next in line for review. OIG states in the letter that the objective of the audit is, “to determine whether selected nursing facilities that received targeted PRF payments complied with certain terms and conditions, and Federal requirement for expending and reporting PRF payments.”
OIG will be reviewing records related to both general PRF and the Targeted SNF and NHIC PRF payments for CY2020. Given that the timeframe for using CY2021 PRF payments does not expire until June 30, 2022, it makes sense that the audit is focused on the 2020 PRF payments. It is unclear at this time whether a subsequent audit will occur at a later date related to the CY2021 payments. The selected SNFs are asked to submit a list of required documents within 15 calendar days of receipt of the letter, which looks to be around June 22. Given that members have already had to submit PRF reports to HRSA on these funds, selected nursing homes should have many of the requested documents readily available.
Housing:
LeadingAge Priorities Reflected in House HUD Funding Bill
On June 22, the House Committee on Appropriations released text of its fiscal year 2023 HUD appropriations bill, which the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee will consider on June 23. The bill would increase funding the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly account, compared to FY22-enacted funding, by more than 16%, from $1.033 billion to $1.2 billion. Within the bill’s Section 202 account, the bill appears to provide close to $290 million for capital advances and operating subsidies for new Section 202 homes, compared to the $199 million provided in the final FY22 bill and the $100 million requested by the White House. LeadingAge and dozens of Representatives, Senators, and stakeholders have urged appropriators to provide $600 million for new Section 202 homes in FY23. House appropriators estimate the bill would fund about 3,500 new Section 202 homes. The bill would also provide $31 million to support budget-based rent increases at Section 8 project-based rental assistance properties serving the older adults to cover the cost of a Service Coordinator to help residents stay healthy and age in community and $6 million to support successful 202/PRAC conversions in the Rental Assistance Demonstration. An article with additional information is here.
HUD CSPs: Do You Have a Generator?
In the fourth round of HUD COVID-19 Supplemental Payments (CSPs) (late 2021), HUD started allowing reimbursement for eligible capital costs at properties if they are related to COVID precautions. The list of eligible projects included the installation of back-up generators. LeadingAge Illinois and LeadingAge National are working with members to position themselves for this opportunity in the forthcoming round five, which should be published this summer. Generators in particular have been difficult for members to line up under the time constraints of previous CSP rounds, in part because of the HUD requirement to secure three bids, in part because of the extensive planning and prep that goes into generator installation, and in part because of HUD requirements to have had power outages of certain durations in order to be eligible for reimbursement of a generator. While we wait for the next CSP round to be published, you can already begin positioning for the generator project by lining up bids, reviewing their eligibility, advocating with HUD locally, etc.
We also would like to hear from members on generators. Please email Jason Speaks with the subject heading “generators” and let us know if your community currently has a generator. We want to poll members to get a good understanding of how may already have them.
IHDA Provides Nearly $75 million for Affordable Housing Development
The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) Board announced conditional awards using $75 million in federal funds to provide vital gap financing and complete underwriting for affordable housing developments that may have otherwise not been built due to financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded through the COVID-19 Affordable Housing Grant Program (CAHGP), IHDA is providing grants to 19 affordable developments across Illinois that will create or preserve 1,023 units of affordable housing. The program is the state’s latest effort to ensure the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing continues to move forward during a time of unprecedented need among low- and moderate-income households. Click here for the official release.
Home and Community Based Services:
Home Health CAHPS Survey Previews Available
Preview Reports reflecting results from the Home Health Care CAHPS (HHCAHPS) Survey from January 2021 through December 2021 (2021, Q1-Q4) are now available under the “For HHAs” tab. Data will be updated on Medicare’s compare tool Care Compare in late July 2022 and includes star ratings for those agencies with data for 40 or more patient surveys in the 4-quarter reporting period.
HFS Seeks Input on HCBS Settings and Heightened Scrutiny
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) seeks public input regarding updated evidentiary packages for the Home and Community-Based settings identified for Heightened Scrutiny review. Click here for the notice.
Other:
Mather Lifeways Year 4 Age Well Study Findings
Mather Lifeways has released the Year four findings, which this year focus on resident stress and resilience during the pandemic. Participants this year included 3,441 residents of 122 Life Plan Communities; participants were asked to self-report on four characteristics of stress and six characteristics of resilience related to life during the pandemic.
Those reportedly experiencing the most stress (by comparative demographic reviews) included: women; people aged 85+; people with annual incomes below $80,000; people who are Christian or Jewish; people with 4 or more depressive symptoms; people with three or more chronic disease symptoms. There was no significant relationship found between stress and marital status, college education or length of residence in an LPC. Those who were reportedly more resilient included: women; people younger than 80; people who identify with a faith background; people with few or no depressive symptoms; people with few or no chronic disease symptoms. There was no significant relationship found between resiliency and income, marital status, college education, or length of residency in an LPC.
Other “personal resource” factors that contribute to lower levels of stress and higher levels of resiliency included: autonomy; affiliation; achievement; social cohesion; perceptions of aging; and purpose. Organizational factors that led to lower levels of stress included: being on a campus of fewer than 300 residents; being located in the northeast. Factors that had no significant influence in stress included: profit status; fee structure; religious affiliation; multi-site status; levels of care or age of the community.
The only organizational factor that led to higher reported resiliency was fee structure, specifically, being a resident of an entrance fee model LPC. Coping strategies that lowered stress included: intellectual activities, meditation, and volunteer work. Coping strategies that heightened resiliency included these above, plus talking with friends/ family and ‘screen time’ activities. Overall, the study concluded by saying that residents of LPCs reported low stress and high resiliency during the pandemic, despite variability across individuals.