Breathing room will be in short supply for nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) and other interdisciplinary team members who need to implement and monitor the multitude of changes to the Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program (SNF QRP) and the Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Program (SNF VBP) that are in …
Over the last few years, nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) are being hired with less long-term care experience, being paid more, and facing a multitude of challenges including stress and burnout, staffing shortages, and increased workloads. The 2023 AAPACN NAC Work Study and Salary Report received responses from 632 NACs. The …
In the long-awaited Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care (LTC) Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting proposed rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposes a three-pronged, comprehensive staffing approach for Medicare- and Medicaid-certified skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and nursing facilities (NFs): “Literature evidence [e.g., here, here, …
Effective Oct. 1, 2023, section GG will be required on all OBRA and PPS assessments for all long-term care residents. This results in many different section GG assessment periods depending on the assessment type(s). The Section GG 3-Day Assessment Periods tool (Page 1) will guide the nurse assessment coordinator (NAC) …
In preparation for the upcoming Oct. 1, 2023, implementation of the also-just-updated v1.18.11v5 MDS item sets, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the final Long-Term Care Facility Resident Assessment Instrument 3.0 User’s Manual version 1.18.11 and a draft-to-final change table. Highlights of these revisions include the …
Effective August 21, 2023, MDS 3.0 Frequency data will be available from a new location on the data.cms.gov website (https://data.cms.gov/quality-of-care/minimum-data-set-frequency). This new website replaces the previous MDS 3.0 Frequency Report webpage which was decommissioned on August 1, 2023. Users will find very similar information on this new website to that …
Table of Contents 1. Launch/Help Questions 1.1 Will iQIES have the same spec version at launch as QIES (version 3.00.1 including Errata Version3.00.8)? _____________________________________________ 1.2 How do I register for iQIES? 1.3 Whom can I reach out to if I have questions related to iQIES? 2. User Role Questions 2.1 …
Section GG, Functional Abilities and Goals, will expand to all OBRA assessments starting Oct. 1, 2023, with the retirement of the section G activities of daily living (ADL) items. This change disrupts the long-standing practices and policies facilities have developed to capture episode-level-of-care information from nurse aides on the section …
Note: This is the third in a series of articles reviewing key issues in the draft v1.18.11 Long-Term Care Facility Resident Assessment Instrument 3.0 User’s Manual that could prove to be disruptive for busy nurse assessment coordinators (NACs). The first two articles were “RAI Manual v1.18.11 Surprises: Section M and …
Are you considering advancing your career and looking to gain knowledge to be successful in your next role? Or are you already in the position you love but looking to improve your knowledge for additional success? The new Learning Timeline for AAPACN Education and Resources outlines AAPACN’s education programs and …
