LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS

Today’s Edition of the Weekly Webinar is Now Available

• Listen to the webinar and download handouts here.
• Here is the link to register for webinars for the rest of the year.
• Have a topic recommendation or an idea for a poll? Let us know.

Foundation Update
Save the date for #GivingTuesday 2020 on December 1^st. We will once again participate to raise money for the Foundation Scholarships. 100% of your donation goes toward scholarships.

Now that the holidays are upon us and shopping online is even more relevant, we encourage you to use Amazon. Through the Amazon Smiles program, .5% of your purchase goes directly to the LeadingAge Kansas Foundation. You can designate it online or through the app (directions here). You are going to purchase anyway, why not help the Foundation out while you are at it?

We thank you in advance for supporting us.

FEDERAL NEWS

CMS Nursing Home Call
With increasing community spread of COVID, 74% of nursing homes nationwide are experiencing COVID, Seema Verma said at a 30-minute call yesterday with associations. The purpose of the call was to review recent developments and preview upcoming activities. New points of information came up:

• Phone Calls to Each Nursing Home with a Positive COVID Case.  Each nursing home that has at least one positive diagnosis (and possibly those that have reported PPE or testing shortages) will receive a phone call from CMS, CDC, or a QIO and be given a 7-8 question assessment, then triaged for help.  We have heard that the questions might cover: PPE, cohorting, percentage of staff who completed the CMS/CDC training, frequency of testing, how the outbreak occurred, availability and supply of tests.  More information as we receive it.  Those needing the most help will be “triaged to resources,” though it was made clear that the resources would have to come from the states, as CMS doesn’t have these resources.
• Monoclonal Antibodies. Administrator Verma said CMS is pleased about the new Lilly monoclonal antibodies.  Allocations are going to states and states will distribute them; they show promising results in older people and in those who are not hospitalized.  These are “more like vaccines” so infusions can take place in nursing homes.
• Publishing Names of Nursing Homes Whose Staff Took the CMS/CDC Training. CMS leaders strongly urge nursing homes to have their staff take the three-hour CMS/CDC training. (Note: We are trying to ascertain which training they are talking about.) This training is not mandatory and is separate from the longer QIO training and from Project ECHO.
• The CVS/Walgreen’s partnership arrangements for vaccination are being finalized and will be ready to start as soon as the vaccine is available. 
• Finally, Verma said she wants continued dialog, including issues raised by associations such as a request to extend the date for reporting POC testing to NHSN beyond November 20th; paying for testing; and an ongoing request for less punitive surveys focused more on infection control.

Nursing home members with questions should continue to send them to LeadingAge state partners or directly to Janine or Jodi at LeadingAge national. We will consolidate and continue to send them to CMS.

CDC and State Guidance on Thanksgiving: Travel and Gatherings
Within the last few weeks, CDC has issued guidance on the upcoming fall and winter holidays, including some specific tips for Thanksgiving, events and gatherings, travel, and persons at high risk for transmission of COVID 19. Now, some states have issued their own Thanksgiving recommendations and requirements; we review these, together with relevant highlights from the CDC guidance, here.

STATE NEWS

State Testing Strategy – Find Your Regional Lab
The state of Kansas has released a list of the labs assigned to each region of the state to start providing free testing and support to long term care and other community organizations.  Locate your countyon this list.

Introductory zoom calls are still being held today, check the list to find one. We have requested that more calls be scheduled to help homes who did not fill out the state survey last week.

Government List of Staffing Agencies
HHS and Kansas Emergency Management have released a list of staffing agencies in Kansas that have staff who can work in long term care.

KUMC Morning Briefing About COVID-19 in LTC
KC TV with KU Medical Center show about COVID-19 in LTC, disease treatments and the new Nursing Home ECHO. Watch the video (40 min).  

LEADINGAGE NEWS

• LeadingAge Need to Know for 11-13-2020
• Online Coronavirus Policy Update for 11-9-2020
• View the Latest Info, News, and Tools from LeadingAge
• Member Solutions for a COVID-Safe Thanksgiving

RESOURCES

Sharing PHI with your Board
A member posed this question, “We are in a small town, and board members get approached by family members of residents. Sometimes board members want to or believe they need to speak to their problems, but they don’t know anything about the resident. How much information can be legally given to the board members in a regular meeting or executive session?” 

Here’s what Cory Kallheim, VP of Legal Affairs at LeadingAge, had to say:

The board should be operating at a strategic/generative level, so the less it can be dragged into operational issues, the better.  Easier said than done though…. While you may share some PHI with your board to fulfill their responsibilities, HHS recommends that it be de-identified as much as possible.  Read more.

Long-Term Effects of COVID
CDC has posted new information about the long-term effects of COVID-19. We’re still learning about this virus and this information may change, but we’re glad for any info as it becomes available. This resource talks about persistent symptoms and this resource talks about long-term effects. It’s important to note that these documents are based on data from COVID-19 survivors and are not specific to older adults.