STATE NEWS

BACHA Votes to Extend 2020 LNHA Renewals to June 30, 2021
The KS Board of Adult Care Home Administrators met yesterday to discuss renewals for individuals who were required to renew in 2020 but received an extension due to the Governor’s emergency declaration which ends on May 28, 2021. The group voted unanimously to extend the deadline from May 28^th to June 30^th which coincides with the regular renewals process. Stay tuned for additional information from Health Occupations and Credentialing.

7 Days Until TA’s Will No Longer Be Eligible to Work Without A CNA Credential
The Kansas State of Emergency officially ends on May 28, 2021. On that date, the special allowance for Temporary Aides will end and can no longer provide certified care for residents. If you are interested in keeping these individuals in this capacity, they will need to be enrolled in a full CNA class. Here is a list of current class openings. They will be eligible to work in a similar capacity when they have reached a Nurse Aide Trainee II designation.

CARE/PASSR Extension Ends on June 20^th (Final Deadline)
The CARE program sent out a new memo yesterday extending PASSR delay to June 20^th. KDADS is emphasizing that this is the last time PASSR will be extended.  On June 21^st all admissions to your facility must have a PASSR on file. Read the memo for more details.

Medicaid Eligibility Program Updates
We met with leaders of the Medicaid Eligibility program on Friday morning and received the following updates and reminders:

• Phone lines are back open, and the eligibility workers can take direct calls from nursing facilities once again
• Eligibility program will adjust their process when CARE/PASRR resumes on June 20^th
• Renewals continue to be delayed until after the federal public health emergency ends
• In order to maximize resources and avoid duplicative efforts KDHE eligibility respectfully requests —
  • The document upload portal is open to nursing facility staff and it provides a confirmation when docs are successfully uploaded.  Please give staff a few days to review them before emailing to ask for confirmation that they received and reviewed
  • Please allow eligibility staff two business days to respond to voicemails and emails. Sending both an email and a voicemail duplicates tasks because different people are checking each of them

FEDERAL NEWS

Background on the Interim Final Rule
Holly Norelli from the Division of Nursing Homes at CMS joined a LeadingAge national call this week to talk a bit about the new Interim Final Rule and reporting requirements. Read a Q&A and her perspectives.

We Can Do This Campaign Digital Day of Action
Join the We Can Do This campaign, partner organizations, influencers, and more today for a Digital Day of Action. Use this social media toolkit and one-pager to help reach people who haven’t received the vaccine or who may be waiting to get vaccinated. Thank you for all your help to get America vaccinated!

LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS

Miss the Weekly Webinar Today?
Here is the recording and here are the handouts.

On June 11^th, we will host David McDonnell, OSHA Compliance Assistance Specialist, who will be presenting on the COVID National Emphasis Program (NEP). Come prepared with your questions.

Make plans to join us each Friday at 10 AM. Register here.

LEADINGAGE NATIONAL NEWS

CCHIT Summit is Now FREE! Take Advantage of This One Time Opportunity
After a year of struggling with COVID, many members have shared that budgets won’t allow them to attend this year’s Collaborative Care & Health IT Innovations Summit. That’s why LeadingAge is opening up the June 8th-10th event by offering free registration to all care providers. Register now.

Public Perceptions of Aging Services Survey
LeadingAge is hard at work developing an initiative to build awareness of our field and the incredible work your organizations do every day. To ensure we get it right, we need to hear from you! We’ll use your insight, along with other research, to ground our strategies and materials in the best learning—so that we can build the most effective communications toolbox for you and your colleagues from across the continuum. Please complete this 5-minute survey ASAP (no later than Friday, May 28th).

Strengthening the Direct Care Workforce
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed long-standing fault lines in the direct care workforce—the people who provide hands-on care and supervision to frail older adults and people with disabilities. On June 3rd, LeadingAge’s Senior Vice President of Research, Robyn Stone, will participate in a webinar hosted by Mathematica to discuss evidence-based policies and practices for strengthening the direct care workforce in the wake of the pandemic. Learn more and register today.

Upcoming LeadingAge Update Calls
Join calls by registering here.LeadingAge National hosts coronavirus-focused calls at 2:30 PM Central every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Here’s what’s coming up:

• Monday, May 24th – Guest Dr. Lee Fleisher, CMS Medical Director and head of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality will be available to field unanswered questions about the IFR and share what’s coming next down the pike.
• Wednesday, May 26th – LeadingAge member Gus Keach-Longo will share about how his community worked with residents and staff to change their rules around masking in public areas. Plus other updates and news.
• Thursday, May 2nd – In addition to other updates and news, Lori Summers will unpack how her organization achieved high vaccination rates with staff through communication and workplace culture.

New Insights and Tools from LeadingAge
LeadingAge staff experts are developing essential advocacy, guidance and tools, and curating the most relevant resources for aging services providers, including:

• HUD Physical Inspection Bill Introduced 
• State-Level Projections of Older Adult Renters
• CMS Staff Insights: Interview with Holly Norelli – May 20, 2021
• COVID Community Corps: Interview with Yvanna Cancela – May 19, 2021
• State by State Face Mask Mandates

RESOURCES

Free Protect Nursing Homes Tool
Here is a (free) new resource for nursing home/SNF leaders seeking to control infections at skilled nursing facilities: ProtectNursingHomes.org.  Built by Yale, UCLA and US Digital Response, the site provides rich detail on staff interconnectivity that has long been desired by nursing home administrators and health leads, but that has been difficult to attain. It can be a helpful tool in outbreak management for COVID as well as other infections that more routinely challenge nursing homes.  As previously featured by the CDC and a LeadingAge national call, an overview and demo of the tool can be found here.

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