LEADINGAGE KANSAS

PLEASE RE-SIGN UP FOR WEEKLY FRIDAY WEBINARS
Make sure you re-register for the webinars. Here is the link to register and we look forward to seeing you all next week.

FEDERAL

CMS Nursing Home Testing Call September 8th summary
CMS held a call on nursing home testing this evening. The presentation is here.  Speakers included:

  • Seema Verma, Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
  • Robert R. Redfield, MD, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  • Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
  • Lee Fleisher, MD, Chief Medical Officer, CMS
  • Jean Moody-Williams and Dr. Shari Ling, CMS

Seema Verma and the CMS survey team gave a broad overview of the Interim Final Rule and the Infection Control Training Program. She stressed the call to action to nursing homes for infection control, testing, and training to continue to mitigate the spread of COVID. Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD, reported that to date: 13,477 testing instruments have been sent to 13,343 NH and 4.7 million tests. This week 507 instruments with 192,000 tests will be sent to nursing homes. He also discussed using the antigen test kits to test residents 1x and staff 2x under this initiative. Once the initial supply of tests are used, providers can use the PRF funding to acquire testing kits from the two vendors…all the tests have been taken by HHS. A call is scheduled this week with BD outlets so NHs are prioritized. There was a discussion regarding asymptomatic testing.  Please follow the Aug. 24th FDA FAQ and the Aug 28th CMS statement and use antigen testing on asymptomatic individuals and review the PREP ACT coverage.  Overall, antigen tests are acceptable under FDA and states should accept them as if they do not, they are violating a federal mandate. In addition, HHS purchasing 150 million antigen tests on the Abbott card, using nasal swabs that will be distributing next week.  here will be 750,000 to nursing homes in red/yellow zone counties. These cards should be used to supplement PCR testing or POC antigen tests to lessen the burden and rotate the type of tests used.

Other Federal Updates

STATE

Point of Care from KDHE
KDHE has released the new point of care testing reporting template and instructions for completion and submission. Read the full message from KDHE below:

Good Morning,

KDHE is reaching out to you to assist in reporting the Point-of-Care testing you will be conducting at your facility.

KDHE’s Surveillance Team is announcing upcoming new functionality to the Kansas Reporting Disease Portal (https://diseasereporting.kdhe.ks.org ) to help in this effort.  The Kansas Reporting Disease Portal was initially designed to replace the KDHE Disease Reporting Form which can be completed by facilities and Faxed to our offices when there is suspicion of disease.  Soon, our Portal will be able to receive testing results, too.  You will be able to enter the results one by one along with the information from the Disease Reporting Form when you don’t have many to send or by bulk upload using a template for the Portal.  We will be sending out an announcement when the Portal is ready for your results. 

In the meantime, please fax your POC positive results to KDHE at 877-427-7318.  Negatives should be entered into the attached template and saved until the Portal bulk upload is ready in the upcoming days.  An instruction sheet is also attached to explain the values to be entered into the template.  Please be diligent in the data quality…remember what is entered into the template will create or amend a case in our Surveillance System.  If data quality is not adhered to, it will lead to issues with ingesting your testing information. We really appreciate your attention to the details.

Keep watching for our new Portal announcement and if you need any help prior to, please don’t hesitate to contact our onboarding staff:  Jeanne.Jones@ks.gov or  Linda.King@ks.gov

Thank you all for your dedication and hard work in these historic times.

Sincerely, 

Shannon Sandall

Director, Surveillance Systems

Bureau of Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics | Kansas Department of Health and Environment | 1000 SW Jackson; Suite 130 | Topeka, Kansas 66612-1371

Office Phone:  785-296-7127 | Cell Phone: 785-207-3496 | Email:  shannon.sandall@ks.gov | Fax: 877-427-7318


COVID-19 TESTING QUESTION

Question: What individuals can perform Point of Care antigen testing in Kansas?

Answer:

  • According to Kansas Board of Nursing Executive Director Carol Moreland, licensed nurses can collect samples for COVID testing and can perform point-of-care antigen testing. Training should be completed and documented.  Under the Kansas Nurse Practice Act, licensed nurses may delegate these procedures to unlicensed individuals who are properly trained.
  • According to Kansas Board of Emergency Medical Services Executive Director Joe House, certified EMTs, AEMTs, and Paramedics have the base knowledge necessary to be able to appropriately obtain test samples.  Specific training prior to obtaining samples is strongly encouraged. Individuals can run antigen testing only if the entity for which they are doing the testing is CLIA certified.

What other questions does this bring up for you?  Email Debra@leadingagekansas.org.

Outbreaks/Cluster Published by KDHE
Current COVID-19 Outbreaks as of September 9: Click on “cluster Summary” button and scroll to the bottom of the page to see KDHE’s new report on current outbreaks in Kansas https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas

Regional COVID-19 Transition Care Survey Reminder
LeadingAge Kansas members are encouraged to complete this survey to help inform Kansas’ seven Healthcare Coalitions as they help develop regional strategies to address the transition of individuals from acute to post-acute care locally or within the region. Your input on the survey is important to understanding the needs, resources, and provider perspectives to develop the best region-sensitive outcomes for the project. Please complete the survey by 5:00PM September 16, 2020. Questions about the survey of the project?  Contact Kerry McCue at kgmccue@outlook.com.

LEADINGAGE NATIONAL UPDATE

RESOURCES

Social Isolation
Looking for ideas on how to address social isolation and engage your residents/clients during the pandemic. Check out this resource from EngAGED, The National Resource Center for Engaging Older Adults www.engagingolderadults.org .

Other quality of life resources from EnGaged.  

Foundations of Reflective Leadership

Get an in-depth look at the Leadership Academy’s key lessons in the art and practice of reflective leadership. This Deep Dive explores the idea, concepts, and models behind reflective leadership and ways they can be applied and practiced across a variety of roles and settings. Learn more and register today.

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Nicole Schings
Nicole Schings is the Director of Member Services and Business Development. She oversees the Partnership/Sponsorship program, recruitment and retention of the association’s provider and associate members as well as coordinating all aspects of online education. Nicole graduated from Washburn University and is a Platinum Geocacher. Her favorite thing about working at the association is to bring new partners in to help us better serve members. Along with her geocaching hobby, Nicole enjoys spending time with her dog, Blu. Her favorite part of working at LeadingAge Kansas is that the people are cool and she enjoys getting to know the members and helping them solve problems. You can reach Nicole directly at 785.670.8048.

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