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Top 10 Provider Resources of 2024<p>​​A roundup of all the top 2024&#160;resources featured in <em>Provider Magazine</em> and on the website. ​​<img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/nurses.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin&#58;5px;width&#58;250px;" /><br></p><p>1.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Articles/Pages/Deficiencies-at-F699-Emerging-Trends-in-the-Enforcement-of-New-Regulations.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>Deficiencies at F699&#58; Emerging Trends in the Enforcement of New Regulations</strong></a> (article--2/13/2024)</p><p>One of the major changes in the revised regulations included tags for which many skilled nursing facilities were not adequately prepared to address, specifically F699, which addresses the provision of “trauma-informed care.&quot;</p><p> <br> </p><p>2.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Video-Resources/Podcasts/Pages/Government-Relations-and-Advocacy-in-Long-Term-Care.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>Government Relations and Advocacy in Long Term Care</strong></a> (podcast--12/19/2024)</p><p>Bassett shares insights on key issues, including the impact of Trump's administration on the long term care industry, staffing mandates, and quality improvement initiatives.&#160;</p><p> <br> </p><p>3.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Video-Resources/ProviderTV/Pages/A-Playbook-on-Succeeding-in-Long-Term-Care-with-Mark-Parkinson.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>A Playbook on Succeeding in Long Term Care with Mark Parkinson</strong></a> (video--12/19/2024)</p><p>A new book offers long term care professionals a blueprint on how to thrive in every facet of caring for our nation's seniors.</p><p> <br> </p><p>4.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Video-Resources/ProviderTV/Pages/Purpose-built-Technology-Supports-Care-Outcomes-with-Viventium.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>Purpose-built Technology Supports Care Outcomes with Viventium</strong></a><strong> </strong>(video--12/12/2024)</p><p>Technology should support care providers delivering the highest quality of care, not take up valuable time. Gupta and Glauber from Viventium explain how software purpose-built for long term care can make a big difference.&#160;<br></p><p> <br> </p><p>5.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Articles/Pages/Delving-into-Data-Steps-to-Make-Sense-of-It-All.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>Delving into Data&#58; Steps to Make Sense of It All</strong></a> (article--12/17/2024)</p><p>Data can support decisions about the nursing department by revealing current situations, trends, and predictions, along with potential risks. Data can also offer insight into the cause of an issue.</p><p> <br> </p><p>6.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Articles/Pages/4-Tips-to-Improve-Section-GG-Coding-Accuracy.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>4 Tips to Improve Section GG Coding Accuracy</strong></a> (article--1/09/2024)</p><p>The four tips described here will help facility teams develop a process to ensure the accuracy of section GG items.</p><p> <strong><br></strong></p><p>7.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Issues/2024/Summer/Pages/Top-High-Tech-Trends-in-Long-Term-Care.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>Top High-Tech Trends in Long Term Care</strong></a> (article--6/1/2024)</p><p>New technology in long term care is exciting and promises to deliver many new functionalities as long as the purchase and implementation work for the facility, providers, and residents.</p><p> <br> </p><p>8.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Marketplace/Pages/Using-Technology-for-Improved-Outcomes-in-Senior-Living%20Medication-Management.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>Using Technology for Improved Outcomes in Senior Living</strong><strong>
</strong><strong>Medication Management</strong></a> (article--11/07/2024)</p><p>Learn how effective medication management technology reduces risks, improves resident outcomes, and prevents staff burnout in senior living communities.</p><p> <br> </p><p>9.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; <a href="/Articles/Pages/Why-Directors-of-Nursing-Need-a-Mentor.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>Why Directors of Nursing Need a Mentor</strong></a> (article--6/11/2024)</p><p>When a nurse reaches the level of director of nursing (DON), the perspective changes, and sometimes not in the most comfortable of ways. You are being looked at as the person with the answers, but who is there to help you when you have a question?&#160;</p><p> <br> </p><p>10.&#160; <a href="/Articles/Pages/Deficiencies-at-F742-Emerging-Trends-in-the-Enforcement-of-New-Regulations.aspx" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083"> <strong>Deficiencies at F742&#58; Emerging Trends in the Enforcement of New Regulations</strong></a> (article--2/15/2024)</p><p>Vicarious learning is useful when it comes to survey deficiencies—that is, learning about the reasons for deficiencies in other facilities enables us to examine the practices, polices, and procedures in our own facility.​<br></p><p>​​</p>2024-12-23T05:00:00Z<img alt="" src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/nurses.jpg" style="BORDER&#58;0px solid;" />Management;Survey and Certification​​A roundup of all the top 2024 resources featured in Provider Magazine and on the website. ​​
Deficiency-Free Complaint Surveys<p>State agencies survey skilled nursing centers to ensure they are meeting state and federal standards for quality and staffing set by the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS). These survey agencies respond to all reported complaints by residents, families, and facilities (i.e., self-reported incidents) through complaint surveys. </p><p><a href="/Issues/2024/Documents/By%20The%20Numbers.pdf" data-feathr-click-track="true" data-feathr-link-aids="60b7cbf17788425491b2d083" target="_blank"><img class="ms-asset-icon ms-rtePosition-4" src="/_layouts/images/icpdf.png" alt="" />By The Numbers.pdf</a><br></p>2024-03-11T04:00:00Z<img alt="" src="/Issues/2024/Spring/PublishingImages/PrvSpr24_BTN.jpg" style="BORDER&#58;0px solid;" />Survey and CertificationA deficiency-free complaint survey means that a facility is being operated in absolute compliance with state and federal regulations.
Don’t Fear the Survey: 3 Tips for Using Survey Data to Your Advantage<p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/survey.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin&#58;5px;width&#58;200px;height&#58;200px;" />​The state surveyors just exited your building, and you can hear the collective sigh of relief from your team. Post-survey can be a stressful time when your teams are prioritizing corrections and regaining compliance. Don't miss the opportunity to improve long term business performance and quality improvement with key insights from the data collected during the survey.</p><p>In today’s competitive and ever-increasingly data-driven marketplace, understanding how to use survey data to your advantage is key for successful outcomes. Beyond just creating and executing a plan of correction for survey deficiencies to get back in compliance, key insights can be gained from survey data on an ongoing basis for many different stakeholders to use in improving both quality of care and business performance.&#160;</p><p>The frequency of surveys and prevalence of deficiencies have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic in many states. The silver lining is that there is also an increase in data that your corporate leaders can use to identify operational issues and regulatory trends across your organization. By utilizing survey data effectively, operators can develop better audit tools and process improvements. However, accomplishing this is easier said than done.&#160; </p><h3>Using Data to Your Advantage</h3><p>Here are three ways in which you can use data to your advantage.<br><strong>1.&#160;&#160; &#160;Scale improvement efforts.</strong><br>If the data shows that there are repeat deficiencies in one region or across the organization, you have an opportunity to use the data to create systemic change. Quantifying repeat deficiencies at the regional or organizational level informs the improvement and modification of policies, procedures, onboarding, and training. You don’t know the greater problem exists without analyzing the data first. </p><p><strong>2.&#160;&#160; &#160;Incentivize leaders.</strong><br>Comparing survey performance against company and market peers can be used to incentivize leaders and drive competitive performance improvement. When hiring new executive directors and resident care directors, using a tool that aggregates national seniors housing survey outcomes, providers can vet and explore leaders’ prior survey outcomes at facilities based on dates of employment to drive interview questions and performance validation. For existing community leaders, operators can use survey data to help evaluate performance over time and identify opportunities for improvement.</p><p><strong>3.&#160;&#160; &#160;Mitigate risk exposure.</strong><br>Identification of adverse survey performance can drive special conditions on loans and develop key metrics for use in loan covenants. To mitigate risk exposure, financial stakeholders should be aware of historical and current survey activity including adverse outcomes, severe citations, high volume of citations, fines, ban on admissions, stacked surveys, open survey timelines, conditional licenses, and failed revisits. Continued adverse survey performance and a lack of ability to achieve and sustain substantial compliance can have a negative impact on financial performance, community reputation, census, and staff retention, and may ultimately warrant considering a change in operator.&#160;</p><p>Analysis of survey data along with other available data, such as staffing and quality measures, can be a valuable tool in underwriting general liability and professional liability insurance coverage. Reviewing these key areas during the underwriting process identifies if the facility has received citations that resulted in actual harm or immediate jeopardy to resident’s health or safety.&#160; Citations at these levels have a higher potential for leading to legal action against a facility, but when there is the ability to further assess staffing levels and quality outcomes it provides context as to the overall risk exposure and potential defensibility of a facility when setting premiums and policy limits.</p><h3>Technology Makes Data Analysis Easier</h3><p>The stakes are high for lenders, investors, and insurers to ensure protection of facility licenses from risk exposure related to adverse survey outcomes that can lead to enforcement actions. Finding the right tool to analyze survey data is important.&#160; Not all technology is the same. Here’s what to look for in your analysis tools.</p><p><strong>Does it analyze the entire portfolio?</strong> Tools that enable a complete assessment of survey performance across an entire portfolio are key. Look for tools that allow you to create groups to view data quickly and easily across your organization and conduct comparative reporting for a collection of facilities at both a high-level and detailed perspective.</p><p><strong>Does it allow for benchmarking?</strong> Tools that offer peer and market performance benchmark measures are important. Look for tools that benchmark historical survey, citation, and penalty details.&#160;</p><p>Does it allow you to slice and dice data? Data isn’t helpful if you can’t apply it to your specific needs. Make sure you can export data, use it in comparisons, and dynamically fold it in to other analysis tools.&#160;</p><p><strong>Does it allow for reporting?</strong> If the data is useful and helpful to your community, share it! Flexible technology allows you to report data to referral sources and prospective residents, strengthening those relationships with proof of your positive outcomes.</p><p><strong><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2023/MelissaFedun.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-1" alt="" style="margin&#58;5px;width&#58;135px;" />Does it analyze state-level survey data?</strong> Tools that aggregate and analyze the state survey data of senior housing communities are critical to your success. This is especially important if you operate communities in multiple states because each state’s approach to the licensing and regulation of communities varies. Finding tools to make this data collection and analysis easier is imperative for directly comparing communities across state lines.</p><p>While most leaders and stakeholders are not thrilled when a survey team walks into their building to conduct routine or complaint inspections, top-performing operators are using the outcomes of survey activities to drive understanding and improve performance for their residents, staff, and business. Don’t let the data overwhelm you. Instead, find tools to make data analysis faster and easier to meet your regulatory and operational goals. <br><br><em><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2023/KyleGardener.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-2" alt="" style="margin&#58;5px;width&#58;135px;height&#58;166px;" />Melissa Fedun, RN, BSN, is managing partner and co-owner of Formation Healthcare Group. She is a recognized industry expert providing clinical advisory services to identify risk exposure in investment management focused on seniors housing, post-acute, and healthcare real estate. </em><em><br></em></p><p><em>Kyle Gardner is the chief operating officer of NIC MAP Vision, a source for senior housing supply, demand, and operational data. </em><br></p>2023-10-17T04:00:00Z<img alt="" src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/survey.jpg" style="BORDER&#58;0px solid;" />Survey and CertificationMelissa Fedun and Kyle GardnerDon't miss the opportunity to improve long term business performance and quality improvement with key insights from the data collected during the survey.
ACHCA Reboots Certification for Nursing Home and Assisted Living Administrators<p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/staff1.jpg" class="ms-rtePosition-1" alt="" style="margin&#58;5px;width&#58;200px;height&#58;200px;" />​Almost five years after the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA) stopped offering its certifications for nursing home and assisted living administrators, the professional association for acute and aging services is bringing them out of retirement. <br></p><p>The ACHCA originally offered its certification program in 1981, sunsetting it in 2019 when the administration process became too cost prohibitive compared to the level of interest. “What we had found was that the exam had basically gone stale,” said Bob Lane, ACHCA president and CEO. “That was because the content hadn't continued to be updated.” <br></p><p>As the long term care industry underwent tectonic changes in recent years, ACHCA’s membership expressed increasing interest in the program’s renewal. Lane’s team knew, however, that they would have to make some changes.&#160;</p><p>“We used to have fairly prescriptive requirements, which we have now eliminated,” explained Dr. David Wolf, who chairs the ACHCA’s Certification Committee. The program no longer requires an active administrator’s license, broadening eligibility to academics, consultants, and others who wish to be certified non-practicing administrators. Nor does it require a set amount of experience in the industry or membership in ACHCA, though Wolf said he hopes administrators—practicing or non-practicing—recognize the value of membership. “Our goal is to help the administrator be the best they can be,” he said. “We offer lots of resources and support specifically for the administrator.”</p><h3>Proof of Mastery</h3><p>The rebooted certification program was developed by a certification committee, with extensive input from subject matter experts. The Nursing Home Administrator Certification (CHNA) exam is based on the four Domains of Practice established by the National Long-Term Care Administrator Boards (NAB)&#58; Care, Services, and Supports; Operations; Environment and Quality; and Leadership and Strategy. The Assisted Living Administrator Certification (CALA) exam, meanwhile, draws on NAB resources specifically tailored to assisted living. To receive certification, administrators must take a core exam with 100 questions, regardless of whether they’re pursuing CHNA or CALA certification. Then they must take a specific line-of-services exam for their desired certification, comprising 50 additional questions each.</p><p>Both Lane and Wolf stressed that the exam is far from easy. “We are looking for mastery, so the level of rigor of these questions is significantly more difficult than the licensure exam,” Lane explained. To that end, the ACHCA offers study materials, including both online and in-person boot camps. Wolf was careful to distinguish the program from the NAB’s Health Services Executive (HSE) qualification, which is an entry-to-practice exam rather than a demonstration of proficiency. <br></p><p>“We are offering a credential, which is a mastery of our profession, which is a higher level than the qualification that NAB offers through its HSE,” he said. “Once you become HSE-certified and you believe you fully understand our industry, you are welcome to take the certification examination.”</p><p>Applicants who take the exam immediately receive a pass/fail result, followed by a longer report from the ACHCA unpacking their performance in each domain. “I analogize it to lighting the runway. It helps light the path for that individual in terms of what their professional development needs are and where to focus,” Lane said. </p><h3>Paths to Recertification</h3><p>Whereas the original certification program required recertification every five years, the new one tightens that window to three, in keeping with the rapid pace of change in the industry. Recertification requires a total of 90 continuing education (CE) credits, with at least 18 in each of the NAB’s four domains of practice. That said, the ACHCA offers differing weights to various types of CE credits, creating several potential pathways to recertification.&#160;</p><p>For instance, the completion of a master’s or doctoral program in a relevant area generally constitutes an entire period’s CE requirements. Attendance at industry conferences like the LeadingAge Annual Meeting and Expo, the Argentum Senior Living Executive Conference, and the AHCA/NCAL Convention and Expo also constitute CE credits, provided the sessions are approved by the NAB or other relevant authorities. Service as a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Award Examiner with the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program constitutes three CE credits, while presenters can earn six credits for the receipt of a Gold Award from the AHCA/NCAL’s National Quality Award Program. Other CE alternatives are explained on the ACHCA’s website.</p><h3>“It’s a Completely Different World”</h3><p>Matthew Lessard worked as a nursing home administrator in Maine before becoming Regional Director of Operations at National Health Care Associates. An ACHCA Fellow and recipient of its CHNA certification, he spoke highly of the certification program. “What becoming certified has meant for me is it is a testament to peers—others in the industry and even those outside of the industry—that the individual with certification has that level of mastery of the subject matter to be able to successfully operate a post-acute facility,” he said. “It’s a completely different world than it was 20 years ago when I started out as an administrator. Everything from reimbursement to the patients we take care of—they're the children of the patients we were taking care of 20 years ago.”</p><p><img src="/Articles/PublishingImages/2023/SethSimons.jpg" alt="Seth Simons" class="ms-rtePosition-1" style="margin&#58;5px;width&#58;170px;height&#58;170px;" />Asked what advice he’d offer to administrators early in their careers, he urged them to get involved in professional organizations. “You need to network, and you need to be connected to others, because—let's face it—the administrator of the facility doesn't have any peers within the facility,” he said. “Only another administrator is going to understand you, because no one else in any industry has the specific pressures that we have.”</p><p><em><span><em>Steve Manning is a journalist based in New York City.</em></span></em><br></p>2023-06-13T04:00:00Z<img alt="" src="/Articles/PublishingImages/740%20x%20740/staff1.jpg" style="BORDER&#58;0px solid;" />Survey and Certification;WorkforceSteve ManningAs the long term care industry underwent tectonic changes in recent years, ACHCA’s membership expressed increasing interest in the program’s renewal.