LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS
Thanks for Joining Us for our Annual Business Meeting and COVID Update Today
Here is a recording of the as meeting as well as the handouts.
There will be no call next week, October 22nd as we will be wrapping up our Fall Conference. We will resume on October 29th and feature members who are getting their vaccination rates above 75%. If you haven’t already, register here for upcoming calls through the end of the year.
STATE NEWS
Letter to Kansas AG Requesting Staffing Agency Investigation
On Thursday afternoon we hand-delivered a letter to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt requesting his office to use their resources to investigate unfair business practices and price-gouging committed by temporary staffing agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the letter.
Letter to KDADS Requesting Regulatory Changes to Help Increase CNA Training Courses
LeadingAge Kansas worked with a coalition of Wichita-area providers, WSU Tech, Wichita Chamber of Commerce and KHCA to develop regulatory recommendations to increase the number of instructors and training courses available for CNAs. A letter was sent today to Secretary Laura Howard requesting the agency to adopt the recommendations. Read the letter.
FEDERAL NEWS
Highlights From Provider Relief Fund Webinar on Phase 4 Supporting Documentation: HRSA held a webinar on October 13th focusing on supporting documentation providers will need to upload as part of their application for Phase 4 funds. HRSA will be comparing revenue and expense data (Q1 of 2019 will be compared to Q1 of 2021, but the Q3 and Q4 of 2020 will be compared to these same quarters in 2019.) Other highlights include:
- Supporting documentation is critical to ensure providers get the payments for which they are eligible. The supporting documentation must include recent tax forms and/or audited or internal financial statements. Some providers will need to provide additional documents like cover letters that explain acquisitions or divestitures, organizational structures or other anomalies. Many providers will also need to complete the Annual Revenue from Patient Care worksheet and upload that to explain complex organizational structures or in situations where a parent organization is applying on behalf of one or more billing TINs. This worksheet will be helpful in identifying what total annual revenue must be reported and the annual revenue from patient care on the application itself. Insufficient documentation can lead to a provider receiving no or a reduced payment.
- Providers need to double check that the data reported on the application matches up with the supporting documentation provided. Providers can continue to revise or update their submission until the deadline for submitting applications on October 26th at 10:59 PM CT.
- Members should check out the HRSA resources on supporting documentation.
- Recordings of prior webinars can be accessed on this page under Technical Assistance webinars. We expect the Oct. 13th webinar on supporting documentation to be posted here in the next 1-2 days.
LeadingAge is working on an article summarizing the key points from the webinar, which will likely be published asap. Stay tuned. Here is an article on Clarifying the timeframes that apply to the Phase 4 PRF application, use and reporting.
VACCINATION NEWS
Vaccine Rules Likely Coming Out Soon
The CMS “Omnibus COVID-19 Health Care Staff Vaccination” Interim Final Rule was sent to OMB for final review on October 8th. The OSHA Final Rule “COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard Rulemaking” was sent to OMB yesterday, October 12th. OMB determines its own review timeline, but the fact that the rules have cleared their respective departments, HHS and Department of Labor, means we are likely to see them published soon.
State-Specific Vaccination Rates for SNF Residents and Staff
View the data. (Note: Kansas statewide average staff vaccination rate is 64.2% as of the reporting period in this document. National average is 69.2%. Highest state is Hawaii with 92.6% staff vaccination rate and lowest is Missouri with 54.8%.)
Vaccinating Homebound Older Adults
The Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) offers one-on-one office hours on Wednesday, October 20th, from 3:00 – 3:30 PM CT on developing and executing plans to get vaccinations to older adults who are homebound. Additional sessions are set for November 3rd and 17th. You can register for the office hours here.
COVID-19 Vaccines for Moderately to Severely Immunocompromised People
CDC updated their information on COVID-19 vaccines for moderately to severely immunocompromised people. CDC added answers to two additional questions in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section, surrounding the difference between an additional dose and a booster shot and whether an immunocompromised person who receive an additional dose and a booster shot.
LEADINGAGE NATIONAL NEWS
LeadingAge Coronavirus Update Calls
- Monday, October 18th at 2:30 PM CT Dr. Saskia Popescu of George Mason University will share about lessons from COVID that can inform how we plan for future public health shocks.
- Wednesday, October 20th at 2:30 PM CT, Dr. Jeffrey Townsend of Yale University will talk about natural immunity.
If you haven’t registered for LeadingAge Update Calls, you can do so here.
Call with CDC on NHSN
LeadingAge had a call with CDC today to discuss burdens of NHSN reporting. The main concerns we’ve been hearing from members relate to the overall burden of the extensive reporting requirements, including the time required to track and submit volumes of data each week. Specific data elements of concern included vaccination data on contractors and volunteers, breaking down vaccination by type, documenting eligibility for additional doses and booster doses, and requirements for data security with staff turnover. CDC was very receptive to our feedback. They acknowledged the burden on providers who are already stretched thin, while pointing out that NHSN data is used in multiple ways by many different entities involved in the COVID response. This means that in some cases, neither CDC nor CMS have the final say. We agreed to continue regular feedback while we work together to identify ways to improve the benefits and lighten the load of NHSN reporting. CDC staff agreed to take our concerns back to leadership and the larger group and to continue their efforts to recommend changes as needed.
Meeting with CDC and Key Associations
LeadingAge and a few other long-term care related associations joined a handful of associations that represent state health and public health officials in a meeting with CDC staff working on the Nursing Home Strike Team program. CDC published guidance on the program on October 1st and expects to award the $500 million to state health departments on or around October 25th. States have until 12 months after the end of the Public Health Emergency to spend the funds. The state health departments’ Healthcare Acquired Infections Prevention leaders will likely run point on the flexible program in each state. We encourage LeadingAge members to work through their state LeadingAge associations to establish and ensure communication on how the American Relief Plan funds can best help with staffing needs in nursing homes. CDC is planning to convene state leaders from long-term care and health to help these partnerships work effectively and to share ideas across the states. More information as it becomes available.
RESOURCES
FDA Safety Communication
On Tuesday, October 5th, the FDA issued a safety communication to alert test users, caregivers, health care personnel and the public of the potential for false positive results with certain lots of the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test due to a recently identified manufacturing issue. A “false positive” is a test result that says a person has the virus when they do not actually have it. Negative test results do not appear to be affected by the manufacturing issue. The FDA is not aware of any confirmed serious injuries or deaths related to the false positive results with the affected Ellume COVID-19 Home Tests at this time. The FDA is working with Ellume to assess Ellume’s additional manufacturing checks and other corrective steps to address the reason for the manufacturing issue and help ensure that the issue is resolved.
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