KANSAS UPDATES
- COVID-19 Temporary Nurse Aide Training Program.
- 2019 Novel Coronavirus Illness (COVID-19) Executive Order 20-23 Guidance.
- DCF Heroes Relief Program – If you are an essential worker who requires childcare, Kansas is offering financial assistance to help your family during the pandemic.
- KDADS Update: The Agency plans to conduct virtual infection control surveys on all nursing homes that received an F888 tag on a survey in 2019 or 2020. These will occur over the next 60 days. See the Infection control checklist so you will be able to provide their required information when they “knock on your door.”
- KSBN Weekly Update 4-17-2020.
- There are 1,986 cases of COVID-19 in Kansas today.| Map of COVID-19 in KS.
LEADINGAGE KANSAS UPDATES
- It’s National Careers in Aging Week and we are celebrating through social media. Check out this toolkit from LeadingAge National and tag us in your posts so we can share with everyone. Share pictures of the Heroes working in your building and tag them with #CareersInAging.
- Miss an issue of the COVID-19 Daily Update? Check out our archives.
FEDERAL UPDATES
Important! Members that Receive Medicaid Funding (NF or HCBS): Please Fill This Out ASAP to Get Federal Relief dollars
The US Department of Health and Human Services is seeking information as quickly as possible (but no later than Tuesday afternoon) to inform its decisions about how to allocate the next tranche of the $100 billion Provider Relief Fund authorized under CARES. The first tranche of $30 billion went to providers who billed Medicare (FFS) in 2019.
HHS is working to make payments in the second tranche to providers who bill Medicaid but do not bill Medicare. The ultimate goal of these funds is to cover lost revenue and some expenditures. But at this point HHS is not looking for any data on spending or increased expenditures. They want only the Tax ID Numbers (TINs) of providers who bill Medicaid, but not Medicare.
If you are a Medicaid provider who does not bill Medicare, please send your TIN in the attached excel spreadsheet to atripp@leadingage.org asap by noon Tuesday, to be included in the list LeadingAge has been asked to submit to HHS Tuesday afternoon.
NOTE: If your organization has multiple service lines (i.e nursing facility, home health, HCBS) that receive Medicaid payment through separate TINs, they need to reported on separate lines.
- CMS Announces New COVID-19 Reporting Requirements for Nursing Homes – CMS is reinforcing an existing requirement that nursing homes must report communicable diseases, healthcare-associated infections, and potential outbreaks to State and Local health departments. In rulemaking that will follow, CMS is requiring facilities to report this data to the CDC in a standardized format and frequency defined by CMS and CDC. Failure to report cases of residents or staff who have confirmed COVID -19 and Persons under Investigation (PUI) could result in an enforcement action.
- CDC: Considerations When Preparing for COVID-19 in Assisted Living Facilities.
LEADINGAGE UPDATES
- Question: Will stimulus checks received by my residents be counted toward their patient liability?
Answer: Aaron Tripp atripp@leadingage.org, LeadingAge VP of Reimbursement & Financing Policy says the stimulus check would not be counted towards patient liability. The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) noted that the SSA will not consider stimulus payments as income for Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI) recipients. Since state Medicaid programs cannot impose eligibility requirements that are stricter than SSI requirements, the payments should not affect Medicaid eligibility. Here is the statutory citation that seems to be the basis for that interpretation.
- LeadingAge’s Daily Need to Know for 4-20-2020.
- 4-19-2020 Daily Update Call Recording. See the PowerPoint.
- 4-18-2020 Daily Update Call Recording.
- COVID-19 Member Community – The Member Community is an online discussion forum between LeadingAge members about all things COVID-19. Join the COVID-19 group to ask questions, access resources, and share best practices for dealing with the coronavirus.
- Email COVID-19 Questions to: covid19@leadingage.org.
RESOURCES
- COVID-19 causing insomnia among many caregivers: These tips may help.
- Treating COVID-19 Patients in Place- A Podcast From AMDA/Post-Acute Long Term Care Association.
- Funding available through the Kansas Health Foundation up to $25,000. You can apply for ANY COVID need, not just PPE. (e.g. items to help with social isolation of residents, pandemic time extra staff meals/other services, anything really).
LEADINGAGE KANSAS EDUCATION
Make plans to join us next Friday at 10 AM for our next weekly update webinar.
Miss a weekly webinar update? Check out the archives.
Here are our other upcoming timely webinars focused on COVID-19:
- April 23, 2020 PM 3:30-4:30 PM | Webinar: Learning From Coronavirus.
- April 28, 2020 1-2 PM | Webinar: Confidently Navigating Crisis Communication During COVID-19.
- April 29, 2020 1-2 PM | Webinar: QSEN and COVID.
- April 30, 2020 1-2 PM | Webinar: Leading in Times of Uncertainty.
