Please note – there will be no COVID Update or Aging Update for the rest of the week due to our Spring Conference. We will be back next week to bring you information you need to be the best you can be.
STATE NEWS
KFMC Rolls Out NEW COVID-19 Rapid Response Staffing Support Center
KDHE has partnered with KFMC Health Improvement Partners to assist long-term care facilities and state licensed homes, impacted by COVID-19, with emergency temporary staffing services. KFMC has developed a Rapid Response Staffing Support Center (RRSSC) to manage the intake and fulfillment of the staffing support requests.
KDHE was awarded funds through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Cooperative Agreement funds to assist with supporting long-term care facilities, and state licensed homes, during their response to SARS-CoV-2 infections, and to build and maintain the infection prevention infrastructure necessary to support resident, visitor, and facility healthcare personnel safety. These funds will be used to provide emergency, temporary staffing services to long-term care and state licensed nursing homes experiencing staffing shortages due to COVID-19.
The RRSSC is only for staffing requests directly related to COVID-19 in which staff shortages are impacting resident care. Requests are submitted via a designated intake form, is limited to short term assistance, and is not intended to be a long-term staffing solution.
If your home is experiencing a staffing shortage due to COVID-19 and would like to request assistance through this program, please complete the request form located here. A member of the RRSSC team will review your request and contact you directly.
Highlights of the April 7th State COVID-19 Update for Local Partners
- Kansas rolling number of weekly cases (as of April 1) – 53
- Average number of daily deaths – 1
- Slide 26 & 27 – B.A. 2 is now the dominant variant
- Slide 54 – Therapeutics Distribution Locator
- See slide 7, 8
Listen to the recording of the webinar.
Handouts from the meeting: Slides and Q&A
Off Topic BUT IMPORTANT– KMAP Problems
We have been alerted by several members that the new KMAP portal is not processing claims, resulting in cash flow problems for some providers. According to Trescia Powers at KDADS, there is a known issue with the admit date for nursing facilities and those issues can be tracked on the Claims Resolution Guide. Word is there is a fix coming early this week for the admit date issue. There are training guides as well as demos on the Public KMAP site as well as bulletins explaining the changes. Any further concerns should be reported to Kansas-WEBADMIN@gainwelltechnologies.com. Serious problems that are jeopardizing payroll, etc. should be email to Trescia trescia.powers@ks.gov immediately.
FEDERAL NEWS
CMS to Terminate 1135 Waivers – 30 and 60 day Phase-In
CMS will be terminating a number of 1135 waivers currently utilized by LeadingAge members across settings. Waivers will be terminated in two groups with some terminating in 30 days and others in 60 days from April 7th. Read QSO-22-15-NH-NLTC-LSC.
Specific to nursing homes, the nurse aide training waiver is included in the 60-day termination group (this includes the allowance for Temporary aides.) Recall that individuals working in this capacity will have four months from the termination of the waiver to complete requirements for certification in their states.
Late last week KDADS Commissioner Lacey Hunter provided this further clarification on the timeline for Temporary Aides to transition to CNA:
“… they (TAs) could continue to work with their temporary training through 9/5/2022. On 9/6/22 any individual who has been providing care under the temporary authority and minimal training and who has been employed for the past four months would need to be enrolled in a CNA course and into the Trainee II phase to continue to provide care in a nursing home.
The Qualifying Stay waiver (aka 3-night stay), along with the Benefit Period waiver, remains in place at this time and will not be included in the waivers terminated in 30 days or 60 days. CMS has previously cautioned that this waiver is an emergency waiver and is meant to be used when truly needed rather than generally for admission of all individuals receiving Medicare A SNF services.
Check out LeadingAge’s updated Nursing Home Blanket Waivers Chart here to see what has changed and what stays the same.
LSC Waivers
The following Life Safety Code 1135 Waivers are repealed effective 60 days from issuance of QSO-22-15-NH-NLTC-LSC:
- Inspection, Testing and Maintenance
- Fire Drills
- Temporary Construction
See Memo released by the Office of the Fire Marshal.
In an effort to further explain the COVID-19 1135 changes by CMS, the State Fire Marshal will have a zoom session for providers on Thursday, April 28th, at 10 AM. Join the Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 990 4426 1771. Passcode: FE3SSn.
Learning More about How CMS will Survey on F888
Kansas is among three states (KS, FL and TX) that say they are not going to survey for the vaccination mandate…KS, FL, and TX. LeadingAge National staff, AHCA staff and AMDA staff had a call with CMS this morning to find out more details. Here is a synopsis of what they learned, presented Q&A style. This applies to Kansas:
Q. How will CMS do these federal surveys? A: CMS is going to engage with federal contractors who will conduct the surveys on our behalf.
Q. When will it start? A: They will be on site this week. They will start with looking at a sample of onsite surveys and “may move to other methods.”
Q. How will the organization know the person is in fact a federal surveyor. A. The federal surveyors will present a letter that the federal surveyors will bring with them when they show up at nursing homes (and all other types of Medicare/Medicaid surveyed places.) The letter will be given to the administrator or whoever is there and in charge.
Q. Will there be a separate 2567? A: Yes
Q. Will the survey be at the same time as the state survey? A: It is not necessarily CMS’s intent (related to the 6-month mark) is not to send them out at five and a half months. Feds will coordinate with the states, so CMS is sure they aren’t jeopardizing an organization’s participation in Medicare/Medicaid. If there’s a problem with this or we hear of instances where this is not the case, CMA should be notified.
LeadingAge Kansas will be discussing this with KDADS tomorrow and communicate any updates as they become known.
LeadingAge Kansas received communication directly from the CMS Region VII office last week confirming that they are receiving weekly lists from KDADS on the long-term care surveys they have completed. Those lists will be used to determine the onsite surveys that will be conducted by CMS. They will also be conducting off-site reviews of facility documentation (policies and procedures, staff vaccine lists) at some point in the future but the date for beginning those reviews has not been determined yet. CMS plans on sending out a letter soon to the providers associations that will detail how CMS is planning to enforce the vaccine requirement in Kansas.
CMS Announces End of 1135 Waivers for Inpatient Hospices on June 6, 2022
CMS released a memo stating that certain waivers pertaining to in-patient hospices will lapse in 60 days from the issuance of today’s memo. Specifically, there are four waivers around life safety codes, facility and equipment inspection, and windows and doors that will end Monday, June 6th. Review this article for more information on what’s changing and how to get ready.
VACCINE NEWS
Vaccination Rates of Kansas Nursing Home Residents and Staff in NHSN as of March 27, 2022
Check your data. If you have questions or concerns, contact Brenda Davis or the NHSN@CDC.gov.
LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS
Weekly Webinar Fridays at 10 AM
Did you miss last Friday’s Webinar? Here is the recording. Download the handouts.
Get the latest on COVID, CMS, the Legislature and more each Friday at 10 AM. If you haven’t registered for future calls, you can do so here.
If you would like to listen to updates you have missed, visit this page.
LEADINGAGE NATIONAL NEWS
LeadingAge Coronavirus Calls This Week
What can we expect in this latest phase and what does the “next normal” look like? Should older people get a fourth shot now or later? Is the answer different for those in residential care compared to those not in residential care? Alongside the Biden Administration’s latest COVID-19 recovery plan, a group of leading experts came together to create a plan to map out the next phase.
- Monday, April 11th, we will be joined by Dr. Michael Mina, one of the leading authors of the COVID-19 roadmap and assistant professor of epidemiology and a faculty member in the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard School of Public Health. He will talk about steps we need to take for the “next normal” of the pandemic and answer your questions.
- Wednesday, April 13th, we will talk with Dr. Paul Reinbold, vice president & chief medical director at Acts Retirement-Life Communities (Acts). He will talk about the timing and importance of the 4th COVID-19 shot for older adults and will talk about how his community is working to keep residents and staff safe.
All calls are at 2:30 PM CT. If you haven’t registered for LeadingAge Update Calls, you can do so here. You can also find previous call recordings here.
RESOURCES
Worth a Review
CMS Nursing Home Visitation Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Questions? Email KDADS Assistant Commissioner Dawne Stevenson dawne.stevenson@ks.gov or Commissioner Lacey Hunter lacey.hunter@ks.gov.
THANKS TO OUR SILVER PARTNER
