Palliative care should follow care coordination and quality improvement processes called for by the Affordable Care Act, according to updated guidelines from the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care.
A four-part series of webinars delving into QAPI mandates kicks off at 1 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Wednesday. "New QAPI requirements: designing, implementing and sustaining excellence" is the title of the series, which also will take place April 10, 17 and 23. Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) standards will soon be the gold standard by which nursing homes are judged. These LeadingAge-sponsored webcasts will help you figure out how to design, build and maintain a program that state surveyors will find acceptable. CE credit will be available for the series, which is offered to members, as well as non-members of LeadingAge.
March 22, 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is still working on the regulations for ethics and compliance programs that nursing homes were supposed to have implemented this month, CMS administrators admitted in an Open Door Forum call Thursday.
March 08, 2013
The Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) program mandated by the Affordable Care Act will soon require providers to strengthen their ability to collect and analyze data in order to lead to the development of better ways to improve and attack problems. Two leading experts, Tamar Abel and Theresa Schmidt, demystify the QAPI process and provide functional strategies during a free McKnight's webcast at 12 p.m. (Eastern) on March 13.
February 22, 2013
The landmark legislation known as "OBRA '87" (the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987) significantly limited the inappropriate use of antipsychotic drug use in long-term care facilities. Indeed, among OBRA '87's goals was the elimination of chemical restraints, typically associated with antipsychotic drugs. A quarter of a century after the passage of OBRA '87, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and numerous professional organizations are redoubling their efforts to further reduce the use of antipsychotic drugs in long term care.
February 21, 2013
The Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement system from CMS is on our doorsteps. As facilities have been training and educating themselves, the new QIS (Quality Indicator Surveys) are ready to roll. So, while the entire nursing facility department heads gear up for this new survey process, where does this leave therapy?
November 05, 2012
Nursing facilities must submit written QAPI plans to CMS one year after promulgation of the regulation. This regulation will be in addition to current QAA standards.
Throughout the summer, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is collecting data from 4,200 nursing homes to help develop best practices for a new quality assurance initiative.
