- Register for Upcoming Events
- Leadership Lesson: Advice from the Frontlines
- Resources and Information on:
- Health Equity
- 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 & Medicaid Services (CMS) created an impactful new podcast series that addresses opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment in hospital settings. Emergency departments (EDs) are on the front lines of the opioid crisis. In this series, nationally recognized experts demonstrate how hospitals and health systems can provide excellent care for their patients with OUD while supporting their clinical teams and exercising fiscal responsibility.
Created for hospital leaders and clinicians, Buprenorphine Initiation in the Emergency Department: Why, When, and How?, offers research-backed, actionable advice on the technology tools, clinical evidence and referral networks that support this safe and effective first-line treatment in the ED – and how this research has been translated into action.
This is a joint project by the CMS and the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network Dissemination Initiative. Each episode in this four-part series is less than 15 minutes. Visit the following QIO Program Channels:
- The QIO Program YouTube channel playlist
- myCME.com, for no-cost CME credit with free registration
- QIO Program.org Tools and Resources
Events
*NAB credits awarded* *CE for physicians and nurses available*
Wednesday, October 10, 2023, at 2 p.m. ET
Join Medical Director Dr. Swati Gaur, MD, MBA, CMD, AGSF, for this interactive nursing home affinity group session where she will share a nursing facility’s experience with their Patient at Risk (PAR) Programs and how it impacted avoidable readmissions and ED visits. Bring your questions and best practices to share! Register Here
Nursing Home Readmission Affinity Group: Reducing Facility-Associated Infections and Hospitalizations Related to UTIs
*ANCC credits will be awarded*
Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. ET
This healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention webinar will discuss interventions to reduce urinary tract infections (UTIs) in nursing facilities. The session will specifically discuss evidence-based clinical and infection prevention strategies to prevent UTIs in residents. This session will also provide resources to improve multidisciplinary collaboration between the infection preventionist, nursing staff, clinicians, and medical directors. Register Here
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, November 16 at 2 p.m. ET | 1 p.m. CT (60 min.)
**ANCC 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 new updates to NHSN reporting. 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 Julie Kueker, MBA, BS MT (ASCP), Alliant Health Solutions' program director for Alabama, Florida and Louisiana.
National Family Caregivers Month: Celebrating and Honoring the Contributions of Caregivers
As health care workers, we dedicate years or perhaps decades to improving the lives of the patients we serve. We learned how to interact with our residents, patients and their caregivers. However, what happens when we become the caregiver of a loved one? Are we happy with the outcomes, or does the experience motivate us to create change?
November is National Family Caregivers Month. It is a time to recognize and honor caregivers, raise awareness around caregiving issues, and provide support. Families are often the primary source of support for older adults and people with disabilities. In fact, more than 53 million family caregivers provide unpaid care.
As leaders, we must spread the message that family caregivers should be celebrated and supported. Often, our health care employees are caregivers on two fronts: their patients and their loved ones. Let’s start the conversation in our facilities by inviting employees to talk about what caregiving means to them. It is important to share their experiences and hardships. We can also offer an opportunity for the families and caregivers of our residents and patients to share their stories on social media.
To honor what caregivers do every day, visit the National Council on Aging website for celebration ideas, social media posts, educational resources and more. Let’s lift up the caregiver’s voice in celebration and let them proudly proclaim, “I am a caregiver.”
Alliant Health Solutions' health equity lead, Rosa Abraha, curated the following health trainings, events and resources related to health equity. Check out the resources listed below.
AHRQ Stats: COVID-19 Visits and Age-Related Disparities in 2020
In 2020, 3.8% of civilian, noninstitutionalized Americans had a COVID-19-related medical visit or prescribed medicine purchase. Adults between the ages of 18 and 64 were more likely to receive treatment for COVID-19 (over 4.5%) than children ages 5–17 (1.5%). Learn More
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Podcast AHSCAST - Making Health Care Better
 | Everyone deserves quality health care. Tune into the Alliant Health Solutions Making Health Care Better podcast every other Thursday as they interview guests committed to making health care better. If you are a health care consumer, provider, insurer, system or consultant, this is the podcast for you. View All Podcast Episodes |
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Resources
COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness
View All COVID-19 News & Resources
The CDC recommends everyone six months and older get an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 illness this fall and winter. Updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna will be available later this week. Learn More
Emergency Preparedness: Winter Weather Safety
Winter storms increase the risk of car accidents, hypothermia, frostbite, carbon monoxide poisoning, and heart attacks from overexertion. Winter storms can bring extreme cold, freezing rain, snow, ice and high winds. Visit Ready.gov to learn more about winter weather and how to stay safe.
Opioid Utliziation and Misuse
2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain
The CDC developed trainings to educate clinicians about the 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain and assist clinicians and other health care personnel in providing patient care. The trainings for health care professionals supports clinicians providing pain care in outpatient settings, including those prescribing opioids for patients with acute, subacute, or chronic pain. View Trainings
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
Check out the new Comprehensive Approaches to Preventing and Managing UTIs in Nursing Facilities Playlist. This video playlist includes previous webinar recordings and bite-sized learning videos for UTI surveillance, urine culture stewardship, antibiogram interpretation for empiric UTI treatment, and UTI treatment guidance. View Video Playlist
Urine Culture Stewardship Bite-Sized Learning
Watch this short video to learn about urine culture stewardship and urine culture stewardship implementation considerations for long-term care facilities. Watch Video
C. Diff: What You Need to Know and How to Protect Yourself
Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) is a germ that causes severe diarrhea, which can be life-threatening. C. diff can affect anyone and is usually associated with recent antibiotic use. CDC estimates that C. diff causes almost half a million infections in the United States each year. Protect yourself, your family, and your community from C. diff:
Resources for patients and families:
- Who is at risk for C. diff infection, and what symptoms to look for
- How you can prevent the spread of C. diff in the hospital and at home
- The latest C. diff guidance and prevention resources
- The latest C. diff educational resources, including how to optimize antibiotic therapy to minimize the risk of C. diff infection
- FREE print materials (search “C. diff” under “Programs,” then click “Apply”)
- Answers to frequently asked questions about C. diff
- Christian Lillis’s blog about C. diff and the potential risks and harms of antibiotic overuse
Training
Guide To Implement an Infection Prevention Training Plan
Alliant’s goal, under the direction of CMS, is to improve nursing home care and provide opportunities to expand training for infection prevention for all frontline and clinical staff.
Follow the links below to access available tools to guide your facility through infection prevention training plan implementation for frontline staff:
- A step-by-step guide to training implementation: NHIP Training Implementation Guide
- Assess your nursing home's training rate: NHIP Training Assessment
- Book an appointment with a quality advisor
Chronic Disease
Patients living with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes require a lot of support and help controlling blood sugar. Many struggle to maintain a healthy balance with diet and exercise and often require medication management. Unfortunately, factors influenced by social determinants of health, such as limited transportation, low income or lack of health insurance coverage, may impede access to quality care and treatment. Local grassroots community-based diabetes self-management programs are vital lifelines that fill in gaps of care for vulnerable, disadvantaged populations that may have limited resources to obtain the medications and medical devices they need.
Aside from supporting local diabetes self-management programs in your area, you can refer your pre-diabetes patients to the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program and those with Medicare to the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program. These lifestyle change programs provide a year of support and education on how to eat healthy, manage stress, stay motivated, and address obstacles to good health outcomes. Learn more about how to connect your patients to diabetes self-management programs with these Alliant Health Solutions resources:
Care Coordination & Partnerships for Community Health
In October, CMS released this PAC Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report Fact Sheet explaining two new annual Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports available to PAC providers in the home health, inpatient rehabilitation facility, long-term care hospital, and skilled nursing facility settings through the Internet Quality Improvement & Evaluation System (iQIES) reports folders: the Discharge to Community Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report and the Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report.
Leverage these reports to identify opportunities to focus on internal quality improvement initiatives so that all individuals have the best opportunity to achieve their best potential health outcomes. Learn how to locate your Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports in iQIES by reviewing the CMS PAC Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report Webinar Slides.
Drive 2 Deprescribe Podcast: Stay Connected and Be Part of the Journey
In 2024, The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (PALTC) will continue its quarterly deprescribing podcasts and interactive learning opportunities to help optimize medication use in post-acute and long-term care settings. Join PALTC’s email list to learn about new Drive 2 Deprescribe (D2D) offerings that optimize patient care. The D2D sessions are free and open to everyone.
Study: 40% of Older Adults Have Doubts About Stopping Medications
According to a study posted in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, 40% of older adults have doubts about stopping a medication. Join our Readmissions Reduction Affinity Group Session on November 14 at 2 p.m. ET to learn more about medications and care transitions. Read the Study
Immunization
Preparing for the Upcoming Respiratory Virus Season
The CDC’s Office of Readiness and Response released a slide presentation, transcript and YouTube video on Preparing for the Upcoming Respiratory Virus Season: Recommendations for Influenza, COVID-19, and RSV Vaccines for Older Adults. This presentation provides key points for clinicians to use when discussing these respiratory viruses with older adults and clinical considerations for administration. View Presentation | View Transcript | View Video
New Resource: Tips to Improve Vaccination Rates in Home Health Services
Alliant Health Solutions created a one-page resource for home health services to serve as a quick reference for tips to increase vaccination throughout the home health episode, starting on admission, during the episode of care and as part of the discharge planning process. View Resource
Seasonal Immunization Campaign Calendar – READY SET GO
Have you started celebrating any key milestone targets met? If not, check in with your operational and physician champions for their feedback and new strategies to reapproach individuals who have not been vaccinated. Assure all new resident admissions are being reviewed for immunizations. So, let’s go! 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:
Many falls happen at home, where we spend much of our time and tend to move around without thinking about our safety. There are many changes you can make to your home that will help prevent falls and better ensure your safety. Learn More
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