The February 2024 issue of Alliant Health Solutions Cares & Shares: A monthly newsletter highlighting events and resources for those caring for Medicare beneficiaries.
- Register for Upcoming Events
- Leadership Lesson: Advice from the Frontlines
- Resources and Information on:
- COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness
- Opioid Utilization and Misuse
- Patient Safety
- Training
- Chronic Disease
- Care Coordination and Partnerships for Community Health
- Immunization
- BFAC
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) annual Quality Conference will take place April 8-10, 2024, in Baltimore, Maryland and will also be held virtually.
This year's theme is "Resilient and Ready Together: Creating an Optimal Environment for Quality Healthcare for Individuals, Families, and Communities." During the conference, you’ll explore opportunities for positive change in health care. Register Here
Events
Nursing Home Readmission Affinity Group: Root Cause Analysis
*NAB credits awarded* *CE for physicians and nurses available*
Thursday, February 8, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. CT
If you have ever hit a “roadblock” during the root cause analysis (RCA) process or if you just want to enhance your current RCA process, you’ll want to join this session where QAPI expert Lynn Wilson, MS, will share helpful tips for RCA success using real-life examples.
Register Here | View Agenda
*NAB credits awarded* *CE for physicians and nurses available*
Wednesday, February 21, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. CT
This healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention educational event will discuss interventions to reduce urinary tract infections (UTIs) in nursing facilities.
Learning Objectives:
- Discuss regulatory considerations for HAI reporting
- Present interventions to reduce UTI risk in nursing facilities
- Share resources to support the IP program
Were You Able to "Use Tomorrow" What You Heard During the LAN Events?
If Yes, Click Below.
Nursing Homes LAN Attendees: Click here
Partnership for Community Health LAN Attendees:Click here
Thursday, February 15 at 2 p.m. ET | 1 p.m. CT (60 min.)
**CME and NAB credit awarded**
Join the monthly Shop Talk sessions hosted by the Alliant patient safety team. Attendees will receive updates on the NHSN database and CMS requirements. This month, we will discuss COVID-19 updates, influenza vaccination reporting and NHSN updates.
There will also be a live question-and-answer session to help with your immediate needs. Submitting data accurately into NHSN will help you more confidently plan your risk assessments and quality improvement initiatives.
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Join the Alliant Health Solutions-LTC NHSN Group!
Joining the group and conferring rights to Alliant Health Solutions-LTC to view NHSN data allows for seamless support and technical assistance.
View Step-By-Step Guide
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Leadership
Words of advice from leaders on the front lines.
This month’s leadership lesson is from Ingris Garcia, CDCES, CPHQ, CDN, RDN, a quality improvement specialist for Alliant Health Solutions.
Share the Love of Wellness With Your Teams
My work and personal interests revolve around encouraging others to pursue their health and wellness goals by helping them plan, solve problems, and utilize resources.
As a leadership activity, I suggest incorporating work-life balance and self-care in your daily routine and sharing it with your immediate work community.
Self-care is an expression of self-love, so focus on extending it to your work life. To promote heart health, create a team care calendar with simple wellness activities that your team can do together. You can even turn it into a team care challenge with some friendly competition to motivate everyone. Spread the love of community wellness during this month of love, friendship, compassion and heart health.
Resources
COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness
Protect Yourself and Others From COVID-19
Stay vigilant against COVID-19 with information from the CDC, including how to create your own COVID-19 plan. Visit CDC Website
COVID-19 Vaccine Myth-Busting Resource in English and Spanish
Alliant Health Solutions has created a resource to debunk COVID-19 vaccine myths and provide facts. Download and share the resource, available in English and Spanish, with everyone you know. Download English Version | Download Spanish Version
Emergency Preparedness: Winter Weather Safety
The Resolve to be Ready social media toolkit has practical tips for emergency preparedness that individuals and families can use to be ready for unexpected disasters or emergencies. Share these messages on your social media platforms either as they are or customize them to suit your audience. Learn More
Opioid Utliziation and Misuse
SAMHSA Program To Advance Recovery Knowledge (SPARK)
To address the need to expand recovery support services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Office of Recovery has launched the SAMHSA Program to Advance Recovery Knowledge (SPARK). In partnership with SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, SPARK will work with people in recovery, family members, caregivers, and others with a focus on equity to increase recovery opportunities for underserved and under-resourced populations. Learn More
Resources To Help Clinicians Treat Pain and Manage Opioid Use Disorder
The CDC developed trainings to educate clinicians about the 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain and assist them and other health care personnel in providing patient care. View Trainings
Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs
Prescribing opioids should be a carefully thought-out process by providers. Before prescribing, the CDC recommends that providers review a patient’s opioid prescription history to avoid the risk of overdose. This can be checked with state Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) that are used to track opioid prescriptions. The CDC offers a variety of information regarding all aspects of PDMPs before and during the prescribing stage. Visit Website
Prevent Opioid Overdose Deaths With Naloxone
Clinicians play an important role in raising awareness about naloxone, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose when given in time. Visit the CDC’s naloxone website to learn how to talk with patients about naloxone and reduce their risk of opioid overdose. You can also earn free continuing education credits. Visit Website
Opioid Resources:
Medication Reconciliation Tips for Providers & Staff – Use this resource as a guide to completing med rec. Download Resource
Medication Review Tip Sheet for Patients – Email or print this resource to give to your patients. Download Resource
Medicine Disposal - Use this resource to dispose of unused, unwanted and expired medications safely. Download Resource
Do’s & Don’ts of Pain Medicine - Use this resource to learn how to use pain medicine safely. Download Resource
My Med Bags:
Patient Safety
With the addition of infection-related hospitalizations to the Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing (SNF-VBP) Program, the implementation of oral care protocol for residents may reduce the risk of pneumonia in residents. Nursing homes may consider oral care as a strategy to improve their infection-related hospitalization rates. Read Article
Alliant Health Solutions has a variety of resources to help you reduce healthcare-associated infections in the nursing home setting. Our resources include infection prevention guidelines, data analysis tools, infection surveillance tools, audit tools, and data collection forms. Visit our website to learn more, and feel free to contact patientsafety@allianthealth.org if you have any questions or need assistance with reducing infections in your facility. Visit Website
Training
Infection Prevention Training Sustainability Plan: Ensuring Knowledge Retention and Adaptability
If your facility has achieved the infection prevention training goal by providing training to at least 75% of frontline and clinical staff, the next step is to maintain this training for both existing and new staff. Alliant created a step-by-step sustainability plan to help your nursing home maintain knowledge and adapt to training needs related to infection prevention and control. The sustainability plan can be viewed on page 12 of the Nursing Home Infection Prevention (NHIP) Training Implementation Guide.
- For information on infection prevention training, visit quality.allianthealth.org
- Complete your updated nursing home IP training assessment
Chronic Disease
February is American Heart Month, which is a perfect time to raise awareness about self-measuring blood pressure, increase clinician reimbursement, and help patients manage hypertension at home.
Managing hypertension through home blood pressure monitoring, also known as SMBP, can significantly impact the management of hypertension. SMBP plus clinical support such as regular one-on-one counseling, web-based or telephonic support tools, and educational classes can improve access to care and quality of care for people with hypertension while making blood pressure control more convenient and accessible. However, inconsistent device insurance coverage and provider reimbursement pose significant barriers to SMBP.
To address this issue, the Million Hearts Campaign created An Economic Case for a Self-Measured Blood Pressure (SMBP) Monitoring document outlining how to estimate the business return on investment for SMBP support services based on current Medicare reimbursement rates.
To help organizations successfully integrate SMBP monitoring into care processes and workflows, download the Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring (SMBP) Implementation Toolkit developed by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) for Million Hearts.
Care Coordination & Partnerships for Community Health
An article by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement discusses using the root cause analysis methodology to analyze successful strategies and implement them for future safe outcomes. The article also highlights the benefits of using success cause analysis to promote engagement, system learning and safety. The authors suggest asking your team about recent successes that would be suitable for conducting a successful root cause analysis. Read Article
Immunization
COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Against Post-COVID-19 Condition
Vaccines help protect against long-term COVID-19. A recent study showed that the more vaccines you get, the less likely you will get long COVID. This is called a dose-response relationship: One dose of vaccine reduces risk by 21%, two doses reduce by 59%, and three or more doses reduce by 73%. Read Study
Seasonal Immunization Campaign Calendar – READY SET GO
Our February immunization milestones are about bringing your team together, planning to finish strong and meeting your campaign goal.
The Health and Human Service (HHS) chief met with nursing home associations to discuss low COVID-19 vaccination rates for long-term care residents this month. The associations asked the HHS chief to enable single-dose vaccine orders and a new policy to allow pharmacies to bill Medicare Part B for vaccinating residents during a Part A stay. Nursing home advocates also urged HHS to work with hospitals to encourage them to offer vaccines on discharge, along with direct communication between the agency, residents, and their family members.
The Seasonal Immunization Campaign Calendar has resource links for planning and easy reference to meet your goals. In addition, the comprehensive Toolkit for Increasing Influenza Vaccination Rates in Nursing Homes is a great resource.
Beneficiary & Family Advisory Council (BFAC)
Browse resources our council has worked on below:
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The term “heart disease” refers to several types of heart conditions. In the United States, the most common type of heart disease is coronary artery disease, which can lead to heart attack. You can greatly reduce your risk for heart disease through lifestyle changes and, in some cases, medicine. Learn More
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