The Lead September 23, 2021 - LeadingAge Illinois

Assisted Living:
Lutheran Life Communities Brings High-Tech to Assisted Living
The Selfhelp Home First in the Nation to Achieve Joint Commission Assisted Living Community Accreditation

Supportive Living:
SLP Policy and Staff Training Reminders

Nursing and Rehabilitation:
CDC Funding for Strike Teams to Address Nursing Home Workforce Shortages

Senior Housing:
HUD Updates

Other:
HRSA Stakeholder Video on Phase 4 and American Rescue Plan Rural Payments

Top Stories:

IDPH Releases Long Term Care Staffing Ratios Census Information Requirement
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has released the information they require nursing homes to report on residents that shall be classified as requiring either skilled care or intermediate care. All skilled nursing facilities are required to complete the direct care and skilled care census on a quarterly basis.

The Department is requiring each facility to complete this Excel spreadsheet and submit to the Department on a quarterly basis. Fully completed spreadsheets should be submitted to DPH.LTCDailyCensus@illinois.gov. The CY2021 Q3 Direct Care Staffing Ratio spreadsheet should be completed and returned to the Department no later than December 1, 2021.

IDPH states that facilities can direct any questions to: DPH.LTCDailyCensus@illinois.gov.

We will report more details as we discuss this with the Department.

IDPH Long-term Care Survey on COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination Plans
IDPH is seeking information regarding long-term care (LTC) facility plans to ensure that residents and staff receive COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations over the coming months. This includes the initial and second doses of COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as third doses and booster doses when approval is given for this effort. To provide this information, IDPH asks you to complete a brief survey: Long-term Care Survey: COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccination Plans by Monday, September 27 at 5 p.m. CST. There is an updated list of private laboratories offering LTC COVID-19 testing on the IDPH website as well that the Department would like to make you aware of.

LeadingAge Illinois Testifies in Nursing Home Reform Hearing
Yesterday, LeadingAge Illinois testified before four house legislative committees in Chicago during the second in a series of hearings titled Nursing Home Reform. The other associations also provided testimony and answered questions of legislators. Angela Schnepf, president and CEO of LeadingAge Illinois described the challenges members have faced during the pandemic. She stated that senior living and care providers are struggling fiercely with recruitment of staff in almost all positions. This is on top of being desperate to retain an already exhausted workforce. The hearings are set to continue next week.

Vaccination Updates
Vaccination rates of nursing home residents and staff are now available on Medicare Care Compare. This consumer tool is designed to provide information about vaccination rates within a nursing home and allows for comparison to other nursing homes and state and national averages. We note that the data used on the Care Compare site is the NHSN-reported data, which has been available on the CMS COVID-19 Nursing Home Data site since the reporting requirement was implemented in May 2021.

On September 21, CDC shared new vaccine access resources for variety of long-term care settings, including nursing homes, assisted living, residential care communities, group homes, and senior housing. As the FDA and CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices appear poised to recommend booster shots for people 65+ and people at high risk of becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus, aging services providers are preparing for on-site clinics and other strategies to connect older adults and eligible staff to booster shots

The CDC’s updated website for COVID-19 Vaccine Access in Long-term Care Settings provides information for long-term care administrators and managers, as well as information on how jurisdictions can ensure COVID-19 vaccine access for staff and residents in long-term care settings. CDC’s new resources include strategies for on-site vaccination clinics and vaccinations in the broader community. For on-site clinics, providers are urged to contact their long-term care pharmacy, local retail pharmacy, or other vaccine provider to arrange for an on-site vaccination clinic.

Providers may also request vaccination support from a pharmacy partner enrolled in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program and may find the CDC’s piece on Connecting Long-Term Care Settings with Federal Pharmacy Partners very useful. Providers having difficulty arranging COVID-19 vaccination for residents and staff should contact their state or local health department’s immunization program for assistance. Finally, if the state or jurisdictional immunization program is unable to connect your LTC setting with a vaccine provider, CDC is available as a safety net support and can be contacted through CDC INFO at 800-232-4636 for additional support. Aging services providers will also find the CDC’s booster shot page, which will be updated as the FDA and ACIP authorize booster doses, full of useful information.

Assisted Living:

Lutheran Life Communities Brings High-Tech to Assisted Living
Lutheran Life Communities announced the addition of Caspar. AI technology to 45 of its Hearthstone Assisted Living apartments at Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights brings patented, human-centered technology to the senior living community. Click here for the official press release.

The Selfhelp Home First in the Nation to Achieve Joint Commission Assisted Living Community Accreditation
The Selfhelp Home announced it is the first in the nation to achieve The Joint Commission’s Assisted Living Community (ALC) Accreditation. The Selfhelp Home is proud to be the first ALC to participate in the new accreditation program that will help raise the bar for seniors in ALCs across the nation. The program is in response to a shift in the assisted living environment that calls for more oversight and health care standards as seniors are staying in their homes longer and moving into ALCs with more health care needs than in the past. Click here for the full press release.

Supportive Living:

SLP Policy and Staff Training Reminders
Over the past several years, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) has been working to fulfill requirements for the HOPE Fair Housing settlement agreement. This included changes to the administrative rule, new required staff training and the development or updating of provider policies. HFS will monitor compliance with the new administrative rules related to the settlement during annual certification reviews.

When preparing for an annual review, HFS reminds you to have the community’s preadmission policy/procedure and non-discrimination policy available for HFS review. HFS staff will also review documentation of staff training of preadmission processes for applicable staff and the non-discrimination policy for ALL staff.

HFS has provided these resources:

Litigation summary
SLP Pre-Admission Processes webinar developed by HFS in 2019. HFS reminds you to consider using these webinar slides for the required staff training.
89 IL Adm Code Section 146.220 Resident Participation Requirements as a reminder of the rule. SLP providers have developed a policy/procedure for preadmission processes that has been approved by HFS.
Non-discrimination statement agreed upon with the plaintiffs and included in a 2/20/19 provider notice. SLP providers have developed a non-discrimination policy that has been approved by HFS.

Nursing and Rehabilitation:

CDC Funding for Strike Teams to Address Nursing Home Workforce Shortages
The White House announced $2.1 billion in funding to improve infection prevention and control in healthcare settings. These funds were authorized in the American Rescue Plan; originally assigned to CMS to implement, the program was moved to CDC. CDC will issue $1.2 billion to state, local, and territorial public health departments over the next 3 years, beginning with an initial round of $885 million in October 2021. Of this $885 million, $500 million will go directly to supporting nursing homes. This funding will be used by jurisdictional health departments to staff, train, and deploy state strike teams to:

Provide surge capacity for clinical care.
Address staffing shortages.
Strengthen infection prevention and control activities to prevent, detect, and contain outbreaks, including providing support for COVID-19 boosters.

The remaining $385 million being awarded in October will be used to:

Address infection prevention and control and issues of health equity across healthcare settings.
Increase lab capacity to conduct surveillance for emerging pathogens and infectious disease threats.
Support Project Firstline, an program aimed at educating front-line staff across healthcare settings.
Increase data and monitoring through the National Healthcare Safety Network to better identify infections in healthcare settings and target interventions.
Advance antibiotic stewardship programs, including addressing health disparities related to antibiotic use.

CDC detailed that an additional $880 million will be used over the coming years to develop new prevention interventions and capacities for infection prevention and control training, data collection, and technical assistance.

Senior Housing:

HUD Updates
Last week, HUD announced its fourth and likely final round of COVID-19 Supplemental Payments (CSPs), due to HUD by November 19 for COVID-19 costs incurred by Multifamily Housing providers prior to October 31. The announcement includes key victories spearheaded by LeadingAge, and every eligible LeadingAge member should submit at least a standard payment request to HUD for access to these funds.

LeadingAge has invited HUD staff to join our Monday, October 4th Housing Advisory Group call at 11:30 a.m. CST to review the CSP requests Any LeadingAge member can join the Housing Advisory Group by emailing Juliana Bilowich or Linda Couch. You can send any questions for the HUD staff to Juliana.

Other:

HRSA Stakeholder Video on Phase 4 and American Rescue Plan Rural Payments
If you weren’t able to attend last week’s LeadingAge stakeholder call where HRSA Acting Administrator, Diana Espinosa, discussed the new round of payments, you can watch here and/or review our article on it here.