CFOs and caregivers can be an interesting mix—sort of like oil and water or Mars and Venus. When one talks, the other might just be hearing “Waa wa wa…” So a big ingredient of a successful team is for members with different styles to learn how to communicate effectively. Communicating effectively often means learning how to listen and translate the other party’s language. Another key ingredient to successful communication is to avoid being triggered by key words or phrases and to avoid triggering your teammates. 

How do you, the Administrator or Director of Nursing, get in the CFO’s wheelhouse? First, you have to remember that there is no one “type” of CFO. However, for the sake of simplicity, we're going to state that the CFO will be more concerned about money than anyone else in the organization, with the possible exception of the owners. 

The IMPACT Act requires that CMS implement cross-setting quality measures. These items assess the need for assistance with self-care and mobility activities. You don't need to know the coding process, but you should share this type of information with your MDS team so that they are compliant with the new regulations for section GG under the IMPACT act.

The SNF QRP will begin collecting data from MDS assessments (and section GG) on October 1, 2016. The good news is that Section GG only applies to residents admitted to a skilled stay in your community! It must be completed at the time of admission and at the time of discharge. If you're combining an Admission assessment with a 5-day assessment, complete both Sections G and GG. The look-back period for this assessment is days 1-3, starting with the start of the most recent medicare stay.  

You probably have a number of prospective residents and their families touring your assisted living or skilled nursing community on a regular basis. Although many will walk through, only some will ultimately choose your community.

If you’re looking to recruit more residents, look at your community with the eyes of an outsider. Sometimes they will see things that deter them that you may not have noticed. Here are the five most important things families will be observing during their visit.

The title of this article is more than a little audacious and presumptuous, so let me simplify. The following is what I have learned from the best providers in the industry. You know who they are. You know the teams that run them. You know their leaders.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) electronically submit direct care staffing information based on payroll and other auditable data. CMS began collecting data from nursing homes on a voluntary basis on October 1, 2015, and nationwide mandatory reporting began on July 1, 2016.

About 20 years ago, during a consulting visit to a long term care community, the Director of Nursing was sitting at a computer (rare back then) entering incident data into a spreadsheet. When I asked what she was doing, she said, "My QA reports are due today and I haven’t input any of the incident data. I usually take the reports home and update the spreadsheet, but I ran out of time."

When I reviewed the spreadsheet it was pretty impressive. It allowed me to identify trends and produce graphs and charts. It was all that and a bag of chips!

But there are serious issues with spreadsheets. Let’s talk about the pitfalls of using spreadsheets for tracking and trending incidents and accidents in our communities.

The best claim is the claim you never have to file—so reducing risk is a big deal for us. Our parent company, HealthCap, visits nearly every member on their premises every year to help them deliver better quality to their residents, families, and employees. The visits involve a mix of consultation, data gathering, and analytics. As a by-product, we help reduce claims.

After 15 years of working with member communities, we've consistently seen four top ways to reduce risk across communities.

Providing exceptional care in an SNF or ALF today involves much more than simply having good care providers and staff. If you’re striving to decrease the number of falls and other incidents, you may need to usesome strategic thinking and investigative work. In particular, you may be looking for valuable information about patterns in the number and type of incidents, and how these could be corrected with the right number of nurses at the right time.

The unfortunate truth in our industry is that active shooter policies, procedures, and training are not only necessary but required, depending on your community’s level of care and licensure. There is so much information from FEMA, OSHA, Homeland Security, and other sources that it can be overwhelming to review.

Have you ever had an adverse event happen in your community where you identified that a deficient practice may have contributed to, or failed to prevent, the incident? This may surprise you, but CMS understands that this can happen and they're willing to give you an opportunity to avoid citations! Shocking but true, back in October 2005 a memo was published by CMS outlining the History of Past Non-Compliance (HPNC) process (www.cms.gov).