LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS

Coping with COVID Group Meeting – Mondays and Wednesdays
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our initial Coping with COVID group meeting last week. If you missed this group call, you can participate each Monday at Noon by registering here or Wednesdays, at 7 PM by registering here.

This is a free member benefit to everyone who works in a LeadingAge Kansas member.

The structure of the group meetings includes sharing and education. The groups loosely build upon each other and will be repeated at some point, so you can jump in and out of them as your schedule permits.

Questions can be directed to Dana Weaver.

Weekly Webinar Update This Friday
Here is the link to register. We will provide an update on what is happening at the State and Federal level as it relates to COVID and provide an update on other happenings at the Association.

Tomorrow is #GivingTuesday – Will You Join Us?
The LeadingAge Kansas Foundation is gearing up for their annual #GivingTuesday fundraiser to provide scholarships to individuals who work for LeadingAge Kansas members. View our 2020 winners. Our goal is $6,000 and we have a matching donation up to $1,000 so your donation will count twice tomorrow.
Donate today.

STATE NEWS

Can We Use Asymptomatic Positive Staff to Care for Positive Residents?   
State Epidemiologist Farah Ahmed says, ”… while we do not think that cases working while infectious is a good idea, we acknowledge that CDC has guidance that allows this in extreme cases. If a facility needs to do this, they need to get a modified isolation order from their local health officer, because ultimately it is up to them whether they allow cases to work while infectious.” 

If you have attempted all of the other staffing mitigation strategies in the CDC guidance and in our Dealing With A Staffing Emergency resource still have insufficient staffing to care for your residents’ basic needs, LeadingAge Kansas recommends making a formal request with your local emergency manager to ask for help with emergency staffing and email scott.brunner@ks.gov to discuss alternate temporary placement for your residents until staffing is increased.   

The State Has Opened Their PPE Portal Up to Nursing Facilities – First Come, First Served
KDADS received funding from the SPARK Committee to help provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection control supplies to adult care homes. In the first round the funding applied to facilities that are not federally regulated for participation in the Medicare/Medicaid (Title 18 and Title 19) program. On November 20, SPARK authorized additional funding for PPE for skilled nursing facilities. Adult care homes in Kansas that qualify for SPARK funding include:  

  • Nursing Facilities who participate in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Title 18 or Title 19 program 
  • Nursing facilities for Mental Health; and 
  • Nursing facilities certified to participate in the Medicaid program.
  • Residential Health Care Facilities
  • Adult Day Care (ADC) 
  • Assisted Living (ALF) 
  • Boarding Care Home (BCH) 
  • Home Plus (HP) 
  • Intermediate Care Facility / Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled (ICF/IDD) 
  • Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities 

More about the PPE Portal
KDADS entered an agreement with SOURCE 309 Powered by American Solutions for Business to connect adult care homes with suppliers of critical personal protective equipment (PPE).  SOURCE 309 assembled a list of selected PPE supplies that are available to order. The product offering is limited to focus on critical supplies and rapid fulfillment of orders to adult care homes. The products available can be found at https://online.fliphtml5.com/hldlw/ybjq/ 

How to Register for Portal
An online ordering portal is now available to all licensed adult care homes. Facilities will need a username and password to log in to the site, view available products and place orders. The initial username is the facility state license number (State ID) including the letter. The initial password is orders. Facilities will need to change the password after the first log in.  SOURCE 309 customer service can help reset accounts to provide help logging on. Reporting will be made available in the portal so facilities can track purchases. When you enter the portal using the link above, you will see this PPE Portal login page: 

$350/Designated Bed, First Come/First Served
KDADS assigned a budget to purchase supplies to each adult care home with qualifying beds of about $350 per qualified bed per nursing facility. Upon login, the budgeted amount for each facility will be shown in the SOURCE 309 PPE Portal. Facilities can use the budget to purchase PPE supplies through the portal. Facilities do not need to provide any additional funds to purchase the PPE supplies through the designated KDADS portal. KDADS will review incoming orders and may make changes to orders to fit within a facility’s budget and to make sure all the SPARK funds are allocated to purchase PPE. 

The funds are available on a first come, first served basis.  KDADS will adjust the budgeted amount per facility to spend the SPARK funds allocated to this project.   

SOURCE 309 will combine group incoming orders to drive down prices and make individual orders cost effective for members of this program. The target is to ship individual PPE orders 7 to 20 business days after an order has been submitted. Due to demand and market volatility, some items in an order may arrive faster than others and, if market conditions change, some hard-to-get items like nitrile gloves and N95 masks could see extended delivery dates. PPE supplies in the portal may also change based on availability.      

Another PPE Ordering Source
KDADS’ expectation is that adult care homes will also be able to use the State of Kansas master contract (state use contract) to purchase PPE and other COVID-19 related supplies using their own resources. The vendors on the state contract have qualified as verified and reliable suppliers through a request for proposals process. Here is the webpage with the approved vendors.

Questions? Email KDADS.reopening@ks.gov. 

FEDERAL NEWS

HUD Reopens Applications for COVID-19 Relief Payments
HUD announces second application period for COVID-19 Supplemental Payments from the CARES Act. The filing deadline for multifamily housing owners is December 11, 2020 for expenses incurred through November. Learn more here

LEADINGAGE NEWS

Members-Only Nursing Home Testing Toolkit
The first in a new series of toolkits developed with Pathway Health is available exclusively to members of LeadingAge. The Testing Toolkit has 13 sections focusing on testing policies, learning and leadership, competencies, pre- and post-testing, outbreak investigation, swabbing collection, and billing. These COVID-19 Nursing Home Toolkits and Resources are for LeadingAge members only, and can be adapted as appropriate to reference relevant state laws or regulations.

Note: Don’t know your LeadingAge National Login? Go to http://my.leadingage.org

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Nicole Schings
Nicole Schings is the Director of Member Services and Business Development. Nicole joined the association in 2018, and oversees our Member Services program, our Partnership and Associate Member relationships, and our online education system. A graduate of Washburn University, Nicole uses her 22 years of experience in the association world to enhance the support of our members, problem solve their issues and bring new partners into the LeadingAge Kansas family. Outside of work, Nicole is passionate about geocaching and moments spent with her dog, Blu. You can reach Nicole directly at 785.670.8048.

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