QSO-20-38-NH was released on August 26, 2020. CMS is requiring facilities to test residents and staff, including individuals providing services to residents, and volunteers for COVID-19. The memo provides guidance for facilities to meet the new requirements. The State Survey Agencies will now assess compliance during the COVID-19 Focused Survey. Failure to comply with the testing requirements will be cited under tag F886. In addition, the COIVD-19 Focused Survey will also include the assessment of compliance with the requirement for facilities to designate one or more staff as the infection preventionist(s) who are responsible for the facility’s infection prevent and control program. Noncompliance related to this requirement will be cited at tag F882.

QSO-20-37-CLIA, NH was also released on August 26, 2020. Any CLIA-certified laboratory that performs or analyzes any test that is intended to diagnoses COVID-19 is required to report the results, both positive and negative. Health care facilities using the Point of Care COVID-19 testing devices under a CLIA Certificate of Waiver will also be required to report test results.

The State Long-Term Care Ombudsman will soon ship printed materials for residents on COVID-19 and residents' rights to your facility to be distributed to each resident. We are also including a return envelope so that any resident who wants to write us back can. When you receive your shipment of guides for residents please safely hand deliver one packet to each resident. Residents have a right to receive information and have access to information from the ombudsman and we appreciate your help reaching all residents. 

Thank you for all you are doing to care for residents during these difficult times. We will get through this and we will get through it together. Please do not hesitate to contact me anytime you have concerns or need ombudsman assistance. You can email me at nhoa@ombuddy.org or sherry@ombuddy.org and by phone at 859-277-9215.

Ten (10) Regional Infection Prevention Staff positions have been added for Kentucky as an extension of the HAI/AR Prevention Program. Eight of 10 have been hired, and seven of 10 have started:

Earn FREE CE/CPE hours by completing the Parkinson's Disease exam for nurses, social workers, and dietitians/nutritionists. Other staff can earn a Certificate of Completion! Access the exams at the password-word protected website, www.cpgltc.org.

Access the other FREE training resources at the password-protected website www.cpgltc.org with the CMS Region IV Quality Improvement Initiative, a 6-state CMS CMP program. 

LTC administrators receive facility-specific passwords and usernames. Please share with staff for access to FREE training materials at www.cpgltc.org. For facility username and password assistance, contact help@cpgltc.org.

In November 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) titled Use of 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine and 23-Valent Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years: Updated Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Click here to read the full article!

Minimum Data Set training, hosted annually by the Kentucky Office of Inspector General and presented by Myers and Stauffer LC, is scheduled to be available in October 2020 on TRAIN. This free course, split into six 90-minute webinars, will review the new MDS and Resident Assessment Instrument manual updates and revisions from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), effective October 1, 2020.

Stay tuned for further instructions, and please contact Melissa Richard with any questions by email or at 502-564-7963 x.3310.

Need information on COVID-19? Access the website www.ltc2prepare.org for up-to-date information on COVID-19 from the Kentucky Office of Inspector General, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

For assistance for your facility username and password, contact the Help Desk at help@ltc2prepare.org.

As noted on the item sets, the assessment period for GG0130 and GG0170 is the Assessment Reference Date (ARD) plus two previous days and only Column 1 is required to be completed. For item J2100, the RAI User’s Manual Coding Instructions indicate that this item is coded “1, Yes” only if the resident had major surgery during the inpatient hospital stay that immediately preceded the resident’s Part A admission. Therefore, for the majority of long-term care residents the response code will be “0, No” and items J2300-J5000 will be skipped.

The item sets and the technical data specifications errata that support these modifications are available on the MDS 3.0 Technical Information webpage.

A table providing the data collection time frames and final submission deadlines for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) is available in the Downloads section of the SNF Quality Reporting Program Data Submission Deadlines website.

In April 2020, CMS announced that a Civil Money Penalty Communication Technology (CMP CT) Grant opportunity would be available for all certified nursing facilities. This grant allows up to $3,000 to purchase tablets and accessories to assist with the communication needs of residents as a result of the state of emergency due to COVID-19. We are happy to announce that since April 2020, Kentucky has approved CMP CT grant applications for 224 of our 284 certified nursing facilities.

Due to the state of emergency, the CMP CT grant opportunity is still available. Please note that CMS has stated that the opportunity will be ending soon and upon the end of the state of emergency. If you have not applied, we encourage you to do so. We have provided information on our CHFS OIG Civil Money Penalty Funds webpage for assistance in applying for the grant. On this page, you will find an announcement letter, which explains the application process and information needed for both the required cover letter and application content. Click here to see additional details.

If you any questions, or need additional information regarding the CMP CT Emergency grant, please contact Gina Riddell, Grants Administrator, at gina.riddell@ky.gov or 502-564-2888 Ext. 3341.

Every Long Term Care provider has the right to both an informal and formal appeal process following receipt of a completed Form CMS-2567. There are two informal appeal processes: Informal Dispute Resolution (IDR) and Independent IDR (IIDR).

Please complete the Confidentiality Agreement and submit via email, fax, or mail to:

Division of Health Care 

If you have received a copy of this newsletter from a friend or co-worker, you can click here and enter your information to join our mailing list, or contact MelissaD.Richard@ky.gov.