Here the news in this issue of CHC's Report:

 

Contract Monitoring for Direct Care and Other Relationships Administrators Should Know. Monitoring direct care contracts is an important administrator duty. Surveyors will request a list of what services your agency provides directly and through contractual arrangements. In addition, for services not furnished directly, evidence that they are monitored and controlled by the primary (parent) agency on an ongoing basis is needed.  - Coming Soon in New Courses Release

InnovAge’s Colorado PACE Centers to Resume Enrollments. Enrollment sanctions have been released for the six PACE Colorado centers by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Finance (HCPF). The release sanctions permits InnovAge to resume normal enrollment of eligible Colorado seniors into its Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) at its centers in Aurora, Denver, Lakewood, Northern Colorado, Pueblo, and Thornton. CMS and HCPF will require InnovAge to conduct post-sanction corrective action and monitoring activities to address any issues identified during the validation audits. Press Release.

Understanding the calculations in agency Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) requires ongoing monitoring and study. Staff and referral source education is a must. That education is easier with Homecare Answers Keith Grunig's blog that shows us How is PDGM calculated. 

Older adults see multiple outpatient providers and increasingly use home health care (HHC) services. Prior studies have not taken the patient perspective into account. This study examined the association between receiving HHC and self-reported gaps in care coordination and separately, preventable adverse outcomes. The outcome of this study shows that Home Health Care is not associated with differences in patient self-reported gaps in care coordination. HHC recipients were significantly more likely (than those without HHC) to report a potentially preventable adverse event (particularly a drug–drug interaction), suggesting an opportunity to improve patient safety by leveraging the observations of older adults receiving HHC. Colorado regulations requires home care agencies of all types to engage ongoing mechanisms for consumer involvement to provide input and comment regarding services provided. Read the summary of this December 2022 study. 

Assisted Living residents who are discharged to different post-acute care settings tend to differ in 30-day and 60-day outcomes. Discharge home with Home Health Care was associated with a higher likelihood of hospital readmissions and a lower likelihood of long-stay nursing home placement than discharge home without HHC. The results were similar within the first 30 days as well as 60 days after hospital discharge. Read the conclusions of this 2022 AHRQ study.

Health Care Employment Law and Numerous Other Federal Requirements Are Easy to Understand in CHC's Basic 8-hour Administrator Training Program.

Federal Public Health Emergency Extended Through April 2023: On January 11, 2023, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra again renewed the declaration of a Public Health Emergency (PHE) under the Public Health Service Act, extending the declaration through April 11, 2023.

The Unwinding of the Medicaid Continuous Enrollment Provision is a complex process. When the continuous enrollment provision ends --when the PHE ends-- millions of people could lose Medicaid coverage. States that accept the enhanced federal funding can resume disenrollments beginning in April but must meet certain reporting and other requirements during the unwinding process. Colorado is one of those states. Colorado has a website addressing its PHE Plan here. 

What is the Colorado Medicaid renewal process and why is it needed? Colorado Medicaid explains the rationale on a website. The website states, "When you are approved for Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) or Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+), you are only approved to get health coverage for a certain period of time. When you get to the end of your health coverage period, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing may ask you to complete a renewal packet. We ask you to do this because we need to know if you and your household members still qualify for Health First Colorado or CHP+. You will get a letter from the Department and a letter in your PEAK Mailbox 60-70 days before your renewal is due. As part of the renewal process, you will need to review the current information we have about you and your household members. Then, you must report any changes or corrections to your information by the renewal due date."

Basic 8-hour Administrator Training 

8 CEUs Approved for Initial and Annual Training for all agency types!

General Requirements Training