In an era of rapid technological advancement and evolving healthcare dynamics, Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, LLC (“ZHSG”) is proud to introduce our platform’s first application, CMI-Connect. Designed to spearhead innovation in the healthcare reimbursement landscape, CMI-Connect represents a new product category, offering Medicaid reimbursement software tailored to the acuity adjusted case-mix index (CMI) systems of each state.
Steven Littlehale in McKnights: Be your own data defender
“Well, it’s clear that you’ve never set foot into a nursing home.”
I know you’ve thought that while reading a memo from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or your state agency, taking in a newspaper or TV report, listening to a politician speak, or even looking through your own policy and procedure manual.
And I know you’ve thought that more than once. I certainly have during my career. Sadly, the person “laying down the truth,” the person who makes your eyes roll or blood boil, is often the one coming from a position of power.
Webinar: The Final Countdown to MDS v.1.18.11 – What You Need to Know; Hosted by Alicia Cantinieri
The final version of the MDS 3.0 RAI Manual v1.18.11 has been released as promised. The final version contains clarifications and additional instructions not seen in the draft version, with implications for facility procedures and processes. With the October 1, 2023, effective date rapidly approaching, interdisciplinary teams must be aware of the updated coding guidelines to ensure accurate assessment completion. This free webinar will review the RAI Manual changes and provide best practices for ensuring compliance and making any necessary system changes for October 1streadiness.
Click Here to view the webinar:
Note – use passcode: Z57=2T4^
Amy Greer and Alicia Cantinieri in Skilled Nursing News: ‘Multidisciplinary’ Resident-Centered Care Is Crucial To Minimizing and Correcting Survey Deficiencies at Nursing Homes
Although survey citation rules can vary from state to state, nursing home operators can implement broad steps to avoid deficiencies if they focus on the often overlooked easy fixes as well as the more complicated overlaps between disparate areas of care – ranging from food safety and mental health documentation to infection control.
Certain trends persist across the board, and to successfully issue a plan of correction for a survey deficiency, operators may need to take a multidisciplinary approach, according to Amy Greer and Alicia Cantinieri of Zimmet Healthcare Services Group (ZHSG).
Simple solutions in infection control, which remains a significant concern even in the post-Covid era, involve keeping in place stringent infection prevention protocols. Meanwhile, another relatively undemanding area to keep up with is food safety and procurement, but it often gets overlooked.
Zimmet Healthcare Featured in Skilled Nursing News: Top Skilled Nursing Deficiencies Show Operators Must Avoid Tunnel Vision in Survey Prep
For skilled nursing facility operators, the most common survey deficiencies might not be the ones always at the top-of-mind.
In multiple states, a Zimmet Healthcare Services Group (ZHSG) analysis found that food safety and procurement was the primary deficiency, among other areas, like basic infection control and resident rights.
“During interviews, the food quality often emerges as a complaint. However, it’s also about proper kitchen practices,” Amy Greer, Clinical Consultant, Quality Initiatives at ZHSG, said in a panel discussion at the firm’s recent “Roaring Reimbursement” conference in Connecticut. “Hazards, labeling, temperature control, and adherence to food safety guidelines matter.”
Alicia Cantinieri in Skilled Nursing News: With ‘Significant Dollars’ at Stake, Nursing Home Operators Prep for MDS Mood Interview Changes
With a substantial amount of reimbursement being at stake, the effect of the change from the PHQ-9 to the PHQ-2 to 9 is the “million-dollar question” facing operators, Alicia Cantinieri, vice president of MDS policy and education for Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, said at the firm’s recent “Roaring Reimbursement” conference in Connecticut.
While the exact consequences of the PHQ switch remain to be seen, the new interview parameters are going to “change things pretty drastically,” Ignite Medical Resorts VP of Clinical Reimbursement Shawna Rainey told Skilled Nursing News at the Zimmet conference.
Steven Littlehale in McKnights: Widening data pool dangerously ‘chumming the waters’ in nursing home lawsuits
A broader public data pool that captures practices of individual nursing homes and patterns across portfolios is being used out of context and further complicating the legal landscape for operators, experts warned as two data-fueled class action lawsuits head toward trial in Kentucky.
The lawsuits allege business owner Terry Forcht and companies that manage two of his nursing homes violated laws that require sufficient nurse staffing levels. Patients and former patients are seeking reimbursement for “services not provided.” To build the cases, a firm representing the plaintiffs has said it used Medicare cost report data alongside expanded Payroll Based Journal data available through Care Compare to measure sufficiency.
Marc Zimmet’s “Debt Clock” featured in McKnight’s: Skilled nursing care’s cloudy Medicare future
Not content to chisel only taxpayers, Medicare Advantage gluttony is also occurring at the expense of beneficiaries in nursing homes and their providers alike. Marc Zimmet, president of Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, has created a dynamic “debt clock” calculating the losses from Medicare Advantage across the skilled nursing sector and broken out to the average facility. This year’s aggregate loss will easily exceed the cost of the $11.3 billion staffing mandate scenario.
Steven Littlehale in Skilled Nursing News: Medicare Advantage Linked to Less Favorable Outcomes, Reduced Post-Acute Care Use
There’s an interesting parallel between what JAMA authors say is needed in assessing MA outcomes and the call among SNF leaders to include patient satisfaction in the Five-Star Rating System, with more recent efforts to measure patient satisfaction getting defeated.
“It has to be the voice of the consumer,” Zimmet Healthcare Services Group Chief Innovation Officer Steven Littlehale said in a September interview with Skilled Nursing News last year. “We’re struggling and striving for patient-centric care, but sometimes it feels like it’s external stakeholder-centered care, or CMS-centered care. It’s not about the consumer.”
Marc Zimmet in Skilled Nursing News: “The ‘SNF Economy’ does not adhere to traditional business principles
The ebbs and flows of Medicaid reimbursement rates wield a significant influence on the success and expansion of skilled nursing facilities, and regional variation in economic factors that influence business performance of organizations wanting to grow across states can be a source of frustration.
But besides identifying regional factors linked to reimbursement, any expansion strategy can benefit from avoiding geographical areas with high labor costs and inflated asset prices as well as regions where managed care providers are dominant, experts said.
Marc Zimmet, CEO of Zimmet Healthcare Services Group, put it well: the “SNF-Economy” does not adhere to traditional business principles.
