Join LeadingAge Indiana Staff for Monthly HUD Member Regional Conference Call
Monthly calls feature Linda Couch, Vice President of Housing Policy and Juliana Bilowich, Director, Housing Operations and Policy at LeadingAge National. There is no cost to participate and the calls will be held monthly to give members the opportunity to receive important updates and engage on HUD issues. Thank you to our friends at LeadingAge Illinois for managing the logistics of the monthly calls.
Details at glance:
  • Calls will take place on the third Thursday each month from 12-1 p.m. CST – September 17, is the next one!
  • LeadingAge National and State Affiliate updates
  • Time for discussion and Q&A among the group
  • To participate, use “HUD Housing Call” in the subject line and send an email RSVP to: Jason Speaks jspeaks@leadingageil.org
If you have questions, please contact Tina Bowman at tbowman@leadingageindiana.org.

Provider Members Please use this MEMBER INFORMATION FORM to submit your information to LeadingAge Indiana by September 15.
Contact Tina Bowman at tbowman@leadingageindiana.org if you have questions.
QSO-20-38-NH – Interim Final Rule on Staff and Resident Testing in SNFs (this QSO does not apply to RCF/AL facilities). For compliance purposes, LAIN encourages all SNFs to document all decisions made or not made in detail. If/when surveyors ask questions about actions taken, it will be critical for SNFs to provide evidence of why decisions were made.  
 
MORE Limited QSO and Point of Care Testing FAQs:
Q: NEW What should be the source of truth to trigger compliance with the new QSO rule?
 
CMS has indicated (and ISDH agrees) that the CMS data point will be the source of truth when determining what category of testing frequency (low, medium, high) to deploy. This source or truth is located here:
https://data.cms.gov/stories/s/COVID-19-Nursing-Home-Data/bkwz-xpvg/. A key point here is that this source starts on September 2. Accordingly, all providers are instructed to use September 2 as the date by which you implement the required testing frequency, not some data point(s) (i.e. positivity rate) that pre-dates September 2. This may later (up or down) the frequency a facility is required to test in the beginning phase of QSO implementation … so please take notice.  
 
Q: NEW What if my Antigen test has not arrived? Do I still need to comply with the QSO testing Rule?
 
The QSO memo states that failure to receive the antigen test does not excuse compliance with its testing (universality and frequency) requirements. ISDH has confirmed that failure to have or supply an antigen test will not excuse compliance with QSO 38. ISDH encourages (and quickly) all providers to secure a
partnership with a lab or lab service provider (e.g. local hospital) to process tests in the required time frame outlined in QSO 38. ISDH has indicated that it will be issuing a list of all labs that might fulfill this service.

Q: NEW What are the reporting requirements and are they different relative to QSO 38
 
ISDH is working on updating the reporting requirements and the RedCap reporting system so that providers will only need to report to RedCap. This should be completed by the end of next week. In the meantime, providers are advised to maintain all test results in some format that can be easily shifted from the temporary format into RedCap when that system is updated and available
.
 
Q: NEW Can providers send staff en masse to Optum sites to complete the QSO required testing
 
No. ISDH strongly discourages this practice. Staff and/or resident testing should be completed via the antigen machines or other lab relationships. The Optum sites are to be used by the general public and one-off staff tests.
More Q&As will come as they develop. See the full list here.
From LeadingAge National
HUD announces Service Coordinator COVID-19 payments – Applications due to HUD by 9/11. Today, HUD announced that CARES Act awards for grant-funded Service Coordinators are now available. The supplemental payments will be approximately 9% of operating budgets, and applications for the payments are due to HUD by 9/11/20. LeadingAge will host a call with HUD staff next week to answer member questions. More information about the call, and detailed instructions to apply for the payments, is available here.
 
Grant Awards: The supplemental awards will be equivalent to 9% of their SCMF/CHSP FY2020 program operating budget.
  • Eligible Period of Increased Costs: March 27 – December 31, 2020
  • Application Deadline: 9/11/2020
  • Acceptance of Notice of Award: The authorizing official must access GrantSolutions and accept the award no later than 5 business days after receipt of notification. GrantSolutions is sending notification emails to eligible grantees.
  • Spending Plan will be due: Grantees must submit a spending plan via Grant Notes/Application to the assigned grant specialist within 20 days after acceptance of the award.
  • Availability of Funds: Once the spending plan is approved by the grants specialist, the funds will be available within 3 business days.

Questions should be sent to the Grant Specialist, or to jbilowich@leadingage.org, who will send the questions to HUD staff.
 
CMS Nursing Home Training. CMS has received a great deal of feedback on the new training that was released last week (8/25). CMS is reviewing the training and may make revisions in the future. In the meantime, remember that any recommendations for infection control are intended to be consistent with CDC guidance and we should operate accordingly.
 
Provider Relief Funds Application Process NOW Open to Private Pay AL and Nursing Homes: Private pay AL providers can apply between now and Sept. 13 through the Phase 2 General Distribution portal – see article; and for questions, please contact Nicole. 
 
SNF Infection Control Distribution and Training: We have had it confirmed (though not publicly in writing) that the $2B in performance payments will not be tied to nursing homes completing infection control training. Additional announcements are expected soon on the eligibility and methodology for the distribution of those funds.
 
Eviction moratorium has been extended. More information is available here.

Updated COVID-19 Infection Control Survey Tool and Checklist. You can access the updated tool, which includes the updated CMS tool, here.
 
HHS Announced an 84-page Rural Action Plan:  The announcement and 84-page plan contain no mention of aging services providers but does highlight some efforts to focus on rural health disparities targeting top diseases and some grant funding for technology to support telehealth for emergency consults.

SNF Infection Control Distribution Incentive Payments Announced: The announcement included no detail on how the measures would be calculated. There will be four monthly performance periods in September, October, November, December. $500 million per performance period/month will be distributed in the form of incentive payments to eligible nursing homes in October, November, December of 2020 and January 2021. HHS will compare CDC county-level data related to total confirmed/suspected COVID 19 infections and test positivity rates to nursing home NHSN LTCF COVID-19 reported data on COVID infection and mortality rates. No further details are available regarding the formulas or specific calculations to be used.
From ISDH
Total positive cases: 1,110
Total deaths: 3,110
Total tested: 1,474,901
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