Tell Your LTC Story: What Brought You to Long-Term Care (LTC) and Why Do You Love It?

AAPACN asked members to share their long-term care (LTC) story – what brought them to LTC and why they love it. Below is a collection of stories from AAPACN members who are passionate about their careers and wanted to spread their love for caring for the elderly and everything in-between …

Schizophrenia Care Planning Checklist by Federal Source

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced they would be conducting audits on MDS coding of residents with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. With the increased scrutiny of this diagnosis, nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) and interdisciplinary team (IDT) members should validate the accuracy of the schizophrenia diagnosis and …

New MDS Item Podcast Series: Social Determinants of Health

In this podcast, Amy Stewart, MSN, RN, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, vice president of education and certification strategy for AAPACN, and Jessie McGill, RN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, AAPACN curriculum development specialist, continue the podcast series on the upcoming changes to the MDS. This podcast focuses on the MDS changes that will …

Medicare Medical Review Contractors Overview

Since the Medicare program is heavily monitored for improper payments to protect the Medicare Trust Fund, it is likely your facility will experience a medical review by a Medicare contractor. The AAPACN Medicare Medical Review Contractors Overview tool provides a summary of the different types of Medicare contractors that may …

Medical Record Alert Sheet

While completing MDS assessments, nurse assessment coordinators can monitor for regulatory compliance during the chart review. If compliance issues arise, leadership should be notified to correct them. NACs can utilize AAPACN’s Medical Record Alert Sheet to communicate compliance issues identified during the MDS/RAI process to clinical leadership, the administrator, or …

New MDS Items Series: Changes to Ethnicity and Race

In this new podcast series, Amy Stewart, MSN, RN, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, vice president of education and certification strategy for AAPACN, and Jessie McGill, RN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, AAPACN curriculum development specialist, discuss upcoming changes to the MDS. This first episode in the series focuses on the changes to ethnicity …

Preparing for the Retirement of Section G

In this podcast, Amy Stewart, MSN, RN, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, vice president of education and certification strategy for AAPACN, and Jessie McGill, RN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, a curriculum development specialist with AAPACN, talk about how nurse assessment coordinators can start preparing for the retirement of section G. Additional Resources: Preparing …

Preparing for Section G Retirement: Care Plan Updates

CMS has announced the retirement of section G, activities of daily living with the MDS item set version 1.18.11, which goes into effect Oct. 1, 2023. To prepare for this change, nurse assessment coordinators can begin to update care plans. Rather than utilizing section G-specific terminology, care plans should be …

SAMPLE Task List for the Nurse Assessment Coordinator (NAC)

The new nurse assessment coordinator (NAC) may be overwhelmed with the numerous tasks required of the position. To ease some of this burden, AAPACN developed the Sample Task List for the Nurse Assessment Coordinator tool to assist the new NAC in organizing key daily and weekly tasks to manage the …

Q&A: We have a resident that is in our facility for skilled services under Medicare Part A. The family took the resident out for a funeral, and she did not return within 24 hours. Is this a Medicare Part A discharge?

Question: We have a resident that is in our facility for skilled services under Medicare Part A. The family took the resident out for a funeral, and she did not return within 24 hours. Is this a Medicare Part A discharge? Answer from Jeff Taylor: This would not be a …