MDHHS Decreases COVID Reporting Requirements to Weekly Beginning next week on October 28, 2020 skilled nursing facility providers need only report COVID data to EMResources on a weekly basis. The Michigan Department of Health & Human Services (MDHHS) issued L 20-65 sharing the updated reporting guidance yesterday. This move comes in response the recommendation made by Governor Whitmer's Nursing Home Task Force to reduce reporting burden on providers.
With the change in reporting frequency, all providers will now be required to report every Wednesday between 7:00 am and 12:00 pm. NOTE: Reporting access to EMResource has been closed effective this morning and will not reopen until Wednesday October 28th for the initial once weekly reporting. Members should be aware that late reporting (after 12:01 pm) on Wednesdays will be flagged by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and MDHHS and may result in enforcement action.
Additional reporting guidance from MDHHS includes:
"All facilities must submit COVID-19 related data to MDHHS by completing all data fields in the "COVID-19 LTC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Report" within the EMResource platform.
"MDHHS will continue to transmit the facility reported data set to NHSN on the facility's behalf. Facilities will only need to report in EMResource to satisfy the COVID-19 related MDHHS and CMS reporting requirements. Should a facility choose to submit data directly to NHSN, the requirement to complete EMResource reporting to MDHHS will remain in effect.
"Be advised that MDHHS will transmit all facility data that is received as is. Facilities retain full accountability for ensuring that their submissions meet NHSN requirements. Failure to submit complete data according to requirements can result in both state and federal compliance actions.
"Reporting period: One week, 7-day period, Wednesday through Tuesday. Beginning at 12:01 AM (0001 HRS) Wednesday, ending at 12:00 AM (midnight, or 0000 HRS) Wednesday the day of data submission. Data submission requirement: Data should be submitted in EMResource once weekly between the hours of 7:00 AM (0700 HRS) and 12:00 PM (noon, or 1200 HRS) on Wednesday.
"Note: While NHSN allows for reporting at least once per week on a self-identified day, MDHHS requires facilities to submit data weekly on a specified day, Wednesday, between the hours of 7:00 AM (0700 HRS) and 12:00 PM (noon, or 1200 HRS) in the EMResource platform. This reporting requirement is intended to be time-limited in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic; it remains in effect until MDHHS notifies providers of its termination."
MDHHS updated the Reporting Data Collection Instructions to reflect these most recent changes. In addition, a training tool has also been provided by MDHHS covering changes and instructions as well as a data collection spreadsheet that members may find useful.
Governor Whitmer Signs Immunity and COVID-19 Placement Bills into Law Today Governor Whitmer signed House Bill 6159. The bill was passed by the legislature last week, and grants immunity to health care providers and facilities, including nursing facilities and homes for the aged and their staff, for medical services provided in response to COVID-19. These liability protections are granted from March 29 through July 14, when the state and the profession were hardest hit by the virus. The liability protections would not apply to gross negligence or willful misconduct. The bill takes immediate effect. You can view the bill by clicking HERE. HCAM continues to advocate for immunity for facilities as they continue to fight COVID-19 today and for the foreseeable future.
SB 1094 - Placement of COVID-19 Residents The Governor also signed SB 1094 today. The legislature unanimously approved Senate Bill 1094 last week. The bill reflects the Nursing Homes COVID-19 Preparedness Task Force recommendations on the establishment of Care and Recovery Centers (CRC) and the placement of COVID-19 residents. Under the bill, a nursing facility is precluded from admitting or retaining a resident who tested positive for COVID-19 unless the resident has recovered from COVID-19, the facility is approved by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to be a CRC, or the facility demonstrates to the department that it meets the requirements in the bill to have a designated area to care for an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19. The bill gives priority to CRCs for the admission/retention of COVID-19 positive individuals unless the department determines there are "rare and unique" circumstances to protect the health and safety of the individual.
You can find the bill by clicking HERE.
We will continue to work with the department on the implementation of this legislation and provide updates as policies are finalized.
HB 6137 - Reporting The Senate passed on October 21 House Bill 6137, which requires MDHHS to post on the department's website data including total COVID-19 tests administered, positive cases, and deaths in nursing homes each week. This data will include cumulative data as well as weekly data. We do not anticipate the reporting requirements or methods for nursing facilities to change due to this bill. The bill will now be sent to Governor Whitmer for her signature. You may find the bill by clicking HERE.
AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Intent to Apply Deadline November 12 Are you considering applying for AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award for 2021? If so, the deadline to submit an Intent to Apply (ITA) is November 12 by 8 pm Eastern time. While not required for application consideration, filing an ITA offers considerable cost savings and access to resources to members applying for the various award levels. ITA submissions are made through the Quality Award Portal.
Participation in the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program offers a number of benefits to members. It is a progressive program based on the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Participants move from the Bronze level, to Silver, and then ultimately to the Gold. Bronze recipients must demonstrate a groundwork for excellence by completing a self-assessment that outlays their organizational priorities and goals. Silver awardees outline their systematic approaches and demonstrate sustainable organizational and process results linked to their key customer requirements, success factors and challenges. Gold recipients represent an elite group by meeting all of the demands of the Baldrige Criteria, they demonstrate the achievement of high levels of performance over time in the areas of: leadership, strategic planning, customer and workforce, operations and knowledge management.
Due to the COVID pandemic, the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program has provided an automatic one-year extension for recipients in their third year of renewal, in order to be supportive of members during these challenging times and offering them the opportunity to maintain their active status even if they are not able to apply in 2021. This means that recipients in their third year of renewal in 2021 will have one more year (2022) to remain active and apply at the next award level. There is no action needed on the part of the recipient to receive the extension.
CMS Seeking Feedback on Home & Community Based Services The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a request for information (RFI) on recommendations for a set of measures for Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS). The request includes assisted living (AL) settings. AHCA/NCAL is gathering comments and feedback, and will be submitting the compiled comments to CMS for the RFI. The deadline for comments submitted to CMS is November 18th, however if you would like to send comments for AHCA/NCAL to consider for inclusion, please send them to Lindsay Schwartz at lschwartz@ncal.org no later than November 7th.
Included below is the CMS announcement with a link to the RFI. The first two questions are the most important in terms of gathering feedback from members:
1) What is the value of having a standard set of recommended quality measures? 2) What benefits or challenges would result from a public release of recommended quality measures.
"Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the public comment period for the Request for Information (RFI) containing a Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Recommended Measure Set has been extended to November 18, 2020. This RFI requests feedback on the potential benefits and challenges that could result from a nationally available set of recommended quality measures for voluntary use by states, managed care organizations, and other entities engaged in the administration and delivery of HCBS.
"CMS encourages organizations and individuals to review the recommended measure set and the questions in the RFI, and to submit your comments electronically at HCBSMeasuresRFI@cms.hhs.gov. The RFI is available on the HCBS Quality webpage on Medicaid.gov." 
Welcome Video For New HCAM and MCAL Websites Click HERE for a video on our completely redesigned websites. |