The September 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
- View Past 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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Upcoming Educational Events
Give the Boost a Shot Event
Thursday, September 5, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT
*CME credit awarded*
During this Boost Education and Office Hours event, participants can engage with subject matter experts, ask questions, and get instant, real-time answers. This event offers a unique opportunity to enhance your knowledge and gain insights in a collaborative environment.
Register Here
Nursing Home Readmission Affinity Group: Breathe Easier: Implementing Strategies for Reducing COPD Readmissions
*NAB credits awarded* *CE for physicians and nurses available*
Thursday, September 12, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. ET /12:30 p.m. CT
Through the lens of a QAPI framework, attendees will learn practical strategies for preventing readmissions for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). By delving into best practices for identifying, managing and mitigating COPD readmission risk factors, participants will acquire valuable insights and tools to enhance care coordination, improve patient outcomes, and drive operational excellence within their health care organizations.
Learning objectives:
- Apply the QAPI framework and evidence-based strategies to prevent readmissions for individuals with COPD.
- Recognize the unique factors and multifaceted implications of reducing COPD readmissions.
- Understand the pathophysiology and management of COPD.
*NAB credits awarded* *CE for physicians and nurses available*
Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT
Join us for an educational event focused on substance use disorder. You’ll gain insight into the common contributing factors and the underlying brain and chemical processes involved. In addition, you’ll learn how the Stages of Change framework can be used to intervene in the processes of substance use disorder and recovery. We’ll also explore common manifestations of stigma in services and treatment for people with substance use disorder, its impact on patient services, and strategies to improve patient-provider interactions.
Learning objectives:
- Identify common contributing factors to the development of a substance use disorder.
- Understand the processes of substance use, substance use disorder, and recovery.
- Identify common manifestations of stigma and utilize Stages of Change to improve patient-provider interactions.
Nursing Home & Partnership for Community Health LAN: Reducing Re-Hospitalization in Congestive Heart Failure Patients: An Interdisciplinary Approach With Emphasis on Nursing Assessment
*CME credit awarded*
Thursday, September 26, 2024, at 12:30 ET | 11:30 a.m. CT
Congestive heart failure (CHF) continues to be a driver of nursing home readmissions. Join us for a discussion of strategies to improve care processes and strengthen the team approach to caring for CHF patients in post-acute care.
Learning Objectives:
- Understanding the disease process, causes and symptoms of CHF that can lead to rehospitalization.
- Learn strategies for proactive, interdisciplinary identification and management of changes in condition.
- Know the key role of nursing assessment and effective discharge planning in readmission prevention.
Give the Boost a Shot Office Hours Follow-Up
Thursday, September 26, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT
*CME credit awarded*
Join us and invite your clinical colleagues to our Boost educational events. In this session, we'll take a deeper dive into your challenges and questions from our earlier office hours session.
Register Here
Past Educational Event
Nursing Home Readmission Affinity Group: Addressing the Sepsis Care Gap: A Comprehensive Assessment of Nursing Home Facility Practices
Recorded on August 8
This session delves into the critical assessment of sepsis care capacity and explores using a sepsis gap analysis to evaluate the preparedness and capabilities of interdisciplinary teams in providing optimal sepsis care. Our expert speakers guided participants through identifying gaps, assessing current practices, and implementing strategies to enhance sepsis care.
Watch Recording | View Materials
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, September 19 at 2 p.m. ET | 1 p.m. CT (60 min.)
**CME and NAB credit awarded**
Join the monthly Shop Talk For Long-Term Care Facilities sessions hosted by the Alliant patient safety team. Attendees will receive updates on the NHSN database and CMS requirements.
We will conduct 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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Words of advice from leaders on the front lines.
This month’s leadership lesson is from Katherine Halata, MPH, emergency preparedness specialist for Alliant Health Solutions.
Leadership in Times of Crisis: Guiding the Way Forward
This September, National Preparedness Month serves as a vital reminder of the importance of readiness in the face of unexpected events. In times of crisis, leadership isn’t just about making decisions; it’s about setting the tone for everyone involved. True leaders leverage advanced skills—communication, organizational abilities, problem-solving, analytical thinking, and interpersonal acumen—to influence and guide their teams to perform at their best when it’s needed the most.
During a disaster, an unexpected event that disrupts daily life and demands immediate action, the role of a leader becomes even more crucial. Disaster management isn’t just about having a plan—it’s about being adaptable, learning from past experiences, and being prepared for the unexpected.
Key Leadership Principles During a Disaster:
- Visibility and Calmness: Leaders must be present and visible, maintaining a calm and organized demeanor. This offers hope and reduces staff anxiety, fostering a sense of stability in chaotic times.
- Providing Essential Tools: Ensure your team has the resources, supplies, and policies to perform effectively. Leadership support should be visible and tangible, empowering the frontline staff to navigate challenges proficiently.
- Security and Safety: Establish robust security measures to protect staff and customers while safeguarding against potential threats like theft.
- Self-Care for Leaders: Leaders often face long days and extended periods of high stress during a crisis. Maintaining a healthy diet, exercise routine, sleep hygiene, and mental health support is essential to sustain effective leadership.
- Maintaining Business Operations: Even in a disaster, daily business operations must continue. This includes processing payroll, monitoring safety, handling controlled substances, and managing the organization’s budget, which will likely be under significant strain.
Resources
COVID-19 Vaccine: Updates and Need To Know
The FDA has approved the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for the 2024-2025 calendar year.
What To Know
- Everyone 6 months and older should get a 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine.
- The COVID-19 vaccine helps protect you from severe disease, hospitalization, and death.
- It is especially important to get your 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine if you are 65 and older, at high risk for severe COVID-19, or have never received a COVID-19 vaccine.
- Vaccine protection decreases over time, so staying up to date with your COVID-19 vaccine is important.
People 12 Years and Older: Who Is Up to Date?
You are up to date when you have received:
- One dose of the 2024-2025 Moderna COVID-19 vaccine OR
- One dose of the 2024–2025 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
- If you are 65 years and older, an additional COVID-19 vaccine dose—beyond what is listed above—is NOT recommended unless you are moderately or severely immunocompromised.
Note: The 2023–2024 Novavax COVID-19 vaccine remains authorized but is no longer available in the United States, as all doses have expired.
Flu, COVID and RSV Vaccine Coadministration
Flu, COVID-19, and RSV vaccines can be given at the same visit. For patients who prefer to receive each vaccine at a separate visit, there is no minimum waiting period between vaccines. Learn More
New COVID-19 Resources
- Become Your Own SUPER HERO by Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine – This new flyer is available in English, Spanish, and Creole. Download today!
Emergency Preparedness: Creating and Reviewing Emergency Plans for National Preparedness Month
September is National Preparedness Month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) annual preparedness outreach event sponsored by FEMA’s Ready Campaign to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time. National Preparedness Month is a perfect time to create or review emergency plans. Learn more by visiting www.ready.gov/older-adults and Ready.gov/prepare.
Emergency Preparedness: Ensuring Safety in Nursing Homes During Extreme Weather
As climate change continues to drive more frequent and severe extreme weather events, ensuring the safety of vulnerable populations, particularly in nursing homes, is more critical than ever. Whether it's hurricanes, heat waves, or winter storms, preparedness is key to protecting the health and well-being of residents.
- Build a Robust Emergency Plan: Nursing homes need a comprehensive emergency plan that addresses various extreme weather scenarios.
- Prepare an Emergency Kit: A well-prepared emergency kit is tailored to the specific needs of the residents and includes medical supplies, food and water, and comfort items.
- Prepare for Power Outages and Heatwaves: Have backup generators and cooling centers/areas to keep residents and staff cool.
- Staff Training and Drills: Regular training and emergency drills ensure that staff are prepared to respond swiftly and effectively.
- Collaborate With Local Authorities: Working closely with local emergency services and authorities can enhance a nursing home's preparedness.
Nursing homes can prioritize these steps to enhance the safety of their residents and staff during extreme weather events. Preparedness goes beyond having a plan—it also involves regularly practicing and updating it and ensuring that everyone knows their role in keeping residents safe.
Empowering Recovery: National Recovery Month Highlights Evidence-Based Practices
National Recovery Month is dedicated to promoting and supporting new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices. Click Here to learn more and access a National Recovery Month Toolkit.
Understanding Pain: National Pain Awareness Month Sheds Light on Chronic Pain and Treatment Options
National Pain Awareness Month seeks to increase public awareness of pain and its prevalence and provide essential education on treatment. Learn More
- Sepsis Alliance Summit – Learn how you can help better identify, diagnose, and treat this deadly condition in your practice. Mortality increases by 4-9% for every hour that treatment is delayed. You can help save lives and limbs by staying up-to-date on current recommendations and guidelines around sepsis by joining the 5th Annual Sepsis Alliance Summit. Register today.
- Sepsis Alliance Toolkit – Check out the Sepsis Awareness Month Website to download the free toolkit to help you spread awareness about sepsis.
- Alliant Health Solutions Tools – Alliant has many tools and resources including the new early recognition and response care pathway in the sepsis section of the Infection Control Webpage.
- CDC Print Materials – Request free printed materials from CDC here. Use keyword “sepsis” to order posters, brochures, infographics and factsheets now to have them available during sepsis awareness month.
This bite-sized video highlights the impact of pneumonia in nursing homes and provides practical steps for preventing pneumonia among residents. Watch Video
Updated CMS Training for Frontline Nursing Home Staff and Management Modules 2 and 10
Learn about the importance of structured COVID-19 screening and surveillance for long-term care facilities and how immunization programs complement these activities through this no-cost, updated Quality, Safety & Education Portal online training developed by CMS. View Training
Exposure to heat can lead to a range of heat-related adverse cardiovascular disease health outcomes and heat stress can increase demand on the heart and cardiovascular system and promote dehydration. The CDC has several resources to help patients and health care teams talk about heat and develop person-centered Heat Action Plans.
5 Steps to Prepare for Hot Days for People with Heart Disease provides heart disease patients with strategies to stay safe on hot days. This resource is designed to be shared as a patient education handout and can be shared with community partners such as senior centers and local television weather stations to help spread the information.
Make a Heat Action Plan with Your Doctor highlights health strategies to guide patients and clinicians in the development of a person-centered heat action plan. This resource can also be posted in provider waiting and/or treatment rooms and places in the community where older adults congregate.
CHILL'D Out Questionnaire is a brief questionnaire to assess patients for health harms from heat or poor air quality. Assessment findings can be used to create heat action plans based on each patient’s unique risks, including those related to housing, isolation, health literacy, medication use and outdoor exposure.
Senior centers provide access to information, opportunities and support to enhance the lives of aging individuals in their communities. Join the National Council on Aging’s Powering Connections campaign to help promote senior centers in your community. The campaign’s aim is to promote a positive image of aging, showcase the ways senior centers benefit older adults, and generate interest among potential participants and partners. Start planning today and get the necessary resources! Get Resources
New Spanish and Portuguese Resources from Patient Priorities Care and the Conversation Project
Patient Priorities Care released a revised Spanish manual to help individuals articulate and share what matters most with their health care team. Get the Spanish Guide
The Conversation Project has a new Spanish video that takes a humorous take on the importance of choosing a health care proxy.
Several existing Conversation Project guides are now also available in Portuguese. Download these resources for your Portuguese-speaking patients at:
HHS Launches National Campaign To Promote Respiratory Virus Vaccination
In mid-August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched a new national campaign to inform the public about common respiratory viruses and the vaccines available to help reduce serious illnesses caused by these same viruses. The campaign, called Risk Less. Do More, focuses on delivering research-based educational messages to those at the highest risk for severe illness from respiratory viruses, including older adults and people with less access to health care information and support. The campaign's goal is to increase confidence in the vaccines that play an important role in preventing severe illness from these viruses and to provide the information that everyone needs to decide to get vaccinated during this upcoming viral respiratory illness season. Learn More
Know Where to Go for Up-To-Date Viral Illness Data
Do you know where to go to find up-to-date information on viruses circulating near you? The CDC has three interactive webpages that monitor respiratory and enteric virus activity by state and/or by HHS region that are updated weekly. Check out:
- FLUVIEW for weekly seasonal influenza activity
- COVID Data Tracker for biweekly COVID-19 Updates
- The National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) for weekly influenza, parainfluenza, COVID-19, RSV, metapneumovirus, rhinovirus/enterovirus, adenovirus, rotavirus and norovirus
Browse resources our council has worked on below:
Active and productive patient and family advisory councils (PFACs) provide a platform for researchers to gather ideas, input, and insights to steer research projects. PFAC members contribute their expertise by collaborating with health care professionals and sharing their perspectives. A PFAC comprises of patients and family members who have received care at an organization, as well as administrators, clinicians, and staff. Learn More
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