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A monthly newsletter highlighting events and resources for Nursing Homes & Partnerships for Community Health
In This Issue:
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Guidance for Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) Provisioins, Conversion Process and Conditions of Participation
As part of its effort to reduce barriers to health care for rural communities, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released QSO-23-07-REH: Guidance for Rural Emergency Hospital (REH) Provisions, Conversion Process, and Conditions of Participation. It provides guidance regarding the enrollment and conversion process for eligible facilities interested in participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs as an REH. In addition to the QSO memo, CMS issued Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a newly developed State Operations Manual Appendix (Appendix O) with survey procedures. The interpretive guidance for REHs is pending and will be provided in a future release. Read the Guidance
MMWR Update on Bivalent Booster in Nursing Homes
A recent CDC Morbility and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) contains important information for our nursing home partners. Reports show that bivalent boosters produced a robust immunologic response in nursing home residents that substantially broadens their immune response to tested Omicron variants, suggesting they can benefit from bivalent booster vaccination. Moreover, nursing home residents who were not up to date with COVID-19 vaccines had a 30-50% higher risk of COVID-19 compared with residents who were up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.
Staying up to date with CDC-recommended vaccinations, which now includes receiving a bivalent booster dose, maximizes protection against COVID-19 among nursing home residents. Efforts to address barriers and increase bivalent COVID-19 booster dose coverage among nursing home residents are critical to preventing illness, severe disease, and death in this population.
Read more:
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Previous Learning & Action Network (LAN) Event
- Combined Partnerships for Community Health and Nursing Homes: Leveraging Technology to Support Safer Transitions of Care
Recorded on January 26
*ANCC credits available until 2/25*
Post-hospital contact with a primary care team is an established pillar of safe transitions. The prevailing model of telephone outreach is usually limited in scope and operationally burdensome. In this session, Eric Bressman, MD, MSHP, Fellow, National Clinician Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania, and Corporal at Michael J. Crescenz, VA Medical Center, shared learnings from a study to evaluate the use of an automated text message-based program to reduce hospitalizations and emergency department visits.
View Slides | Watch Recording
Register for Upcoming LAN Events | Watch Previous LAN Events and Bite-Size Learnings
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
Upcoming Infection Prevention Shop Talks
- February 2023 Shop Talk Call
Thursday, February 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, special guest presenters from the NHSN Vaccination Team will discuss annual health care personnel influenza vaccination data 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.
Register Now
View Previous Shop Talks
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 Lesson
Words of advice from leaders on the front lines.
This month’s leadership lesson is from Janice Hidalgo, Regional Lead of Chronic Disease Management Programs.
Adding Art Activies to Your Daily Routine Can Benefit Heart Health
As part of raising awareness about cardiovascular prevention during Heart Health Month, I wanted to share how integrating art activities into your routine may benefit your heart and overall health. Art has proven to be an essential tool for therapeutic means and rehabilitation medicine.
According to Christianne Strang, a professor of neurosciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and former president of the American Art Therapy Association, “Creativity in and of itself is important for remaining healthy, remaining connected to yourself, and connected to the world.”
Any activity that requires creative expression helps you communicate your thoughts and feelings in new ways and engages the brain’s neuroplasticity, assisting patients in recovering from traumas such as stroke.
Creating art helps:
- Lower stress by reducing cortisol levels.
- Create a deep focus and enter a “flow state,” which makes you more present.
- Process emotions by expressing feelings and memories in ways other than words.
Before you tell yourself that you don’t have an artistic bone in your body, remember that art is subjective. It’s whatever you want and enjoy. The purpose is not to create artwork that belongs to a particular era in history. The goal is for YOUR masterpiece to make YOUR heart happy.
Best Practice Corner
Each month Alliant Health Solutions collects exemplar practices from organizations across the seven-state region. Thank you for your leadership, creativity and perseverance.
Preparing for Functional and Access Needs in an Emergency
Emergency planning can be difficult when caring for individuals with functional or access needs. The Alabama Department of Public Health created a downloaded booklet with information on how to prepare for an emergency. Download Booklet
Culture Change Network of Georgia Hosts Quarterly Meetings
The Culture Change Network of Georgia (CCNG) is hosting a quarterly Eden Associates & Friends gathering. The goal of these quarterly Eden Associates & Friends zoom events is to provide a variety of networking, information, updates, and resources. The meetings occur on the third Thursday of each quarter from 1:30 p.m.-3 p.m. EST. Click Here to Register
Do you have a promising practice to share? Please reply to this email, and we will feature you in an upcoming issue.
Health Equity Corner
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.
Upcoming CMS Webinar On Addressing Health Care Inequities
The public is invited to attend the upcoming CMS webinar, From Data to Action: How CMS and its Stakeholders Are Addressing Inequities in Healthcare. The webinar will feature a discussion of the CMS Health Equity Framework and how key stakeholders are leveraging changes in data science and quality measurement to drive progress toward more equitable care for all. There are two opportunities to join the webinar:
For questions, contact MMSSupport@battelle.org.
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AHSCAST - Making Health Care Better
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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
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Our team is collecting and curating the essential trainings, events, resources and vaccine updates about COVID-19 and other viruses on our website so you can find the information you need. We've also outlined the essentials below.
View All COVID-19 News & Resources
Training & Resources
Long COVID Self-Care Toolkit
It’s estimated that as many as one in five adults who had COVID-19 have ongoing symptoms. Symptoms that linger, many severe, are frequently called Long COVID, a condition that can be disabling. Alliant Health Solutions, strategic partners of the Morehouse School of Medicine's National COVID Resiliency Network, developed a toolkit for individuals who may have Long COVID. Each page can be a separate, standalone document for information on self-advocacy, self-care and tracking. Access the Toolkit
CDC: COVID Data Tracker – Variant Surveillance
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is constantly changing, and new variants are expected to occur. Some of the new variants emerge and disappear, while others persist.
Several variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 are being tracked in the United States and globally during this pandemic. As the virus spreads, it has new opportunities to change and may become more difficult to stop. These changes can be monitored by comparing differences in physical traits (such as resistance to treatment) or changes in genetic code (mutations) from one variant to another. By studying each variant and understanding these differences, scientists can monitor and often predict whether a variant is more dangerous than others. Scientists can also use this information to track the spread of a variant. Read More
Checklist of Current Versions of COVID-19 Vaccination Guidance and Clinic Support Tools
Immunization.org has a checklist of current versions of vaccine guidance and support tools that are updated at least monthly and indicate when each guidance document was last updated. View the Checklist
Safety of the Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccines
Following the availability and use of the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines, CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), a near real-time surveillance system, met the statistical criteria to prompt additional investigation into whether there was a safety concern for ischemic stroke in people ages 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent. Rapid-response investigation of the signal in the VSD raised a question of whether people 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent were more likely to have an ischemic stroke in the 21 days following vaccination compared with days 22-42 following vaccination.
This preliminary signal has not been identified with the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent. There also may be other confounding factors contributing to the signal identified in the VSD that merit further investigation. Furthermore, it is important to note that, to date, no other safety systems have shown a similar signal, and multiple subsequent analyses have not validated this signal:
- A large study of updated (bivalent) vaccines (from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) using the CMS database revealed no increased risk of ischemic stroke.
- A preliminary study using the Veterans Affairs database did not indicate an increased risk of ischemic stroke following an updated (bivalent) vaccine.
- The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System managed by CDC and Food and Drug Administration has not seen an increase in reporting of ischemic strokes following the updated (bivalent) vaccine.
- Pfizer-BioNTech’s global safety database has not indicated a signal for ischemic stroke with the updated (bivalent) vaccine.
- Other countries have not observed an increased risk for ischemic stroke with updated (bivalent) vaccines.
Read More
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SAMHSA Announces 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Results
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released the results of its annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). It shows how people in America reported their experience with mental health conditions, substance use, and pursuit of treatment in 2021. The 2021 NSDUH national report includes selected estimates by race, ethnicity and age group. It is the most comprehensive report on substance use and mental health indicators that SAMHSA has released to date. Read the Report
2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain
The 2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Clinical Practice Guideline is intended to help clinicians:
- Improve communication with patients about the benefits and risks of pain treatments, including opioid therapy for pain
- Improve the safety and effectiveness of pain treatmen
- Mitigate pain
- Improve function and quality of life for patients with pain
- Reduce the risks associated with opioid pain therapy (including opioid use disorder, overdose, and death)
View the Guideline
Prevent Opioid Overdose 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:
- Medicine Disposal - Use this resource to safely dispose of unused, unwanted and expired medications. Download Resource
- Do’s & Don’ts of Pain Medicine - Use this resource to learn how to safely use pain medicine. Download Resource
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Access FREE expert guidance on this topic: Contact Tanya Vadala |
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Infection Preventionists in Long-Term Care
The Association for Professionals in Infection Prevention and Epidemiology (APIC) recently published a comprehensive resource describing the role if the infection prevention professional in the long-term care setting. Download Resource
AHS HAI Surveillance and Dashboard Tool
The Alliant Health Solutions Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Surveillance & Dashboard tool is a modifiable spreadsheet for nursing facility infection prevention and control (IPC) surveillance. The spreadsheet features line lists, data tables, and graphs for respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal tract infections, skin and soft tissue infections, and multi-drug resistant organism (MDRO) surveillance. The spreadsheet allows infection preventionists to track and display facility-wide HAIs, which will be useful for reports, quality improvement committees, regulatory visits, etc. The tool can also be adapted for facility-specific IPC needs and surveillance priorities. Download HAI Surveillance and Dashboard Tool
Apply for Long-Term Care Certification in Infection Prevention
The application for the Long-Term Care certification in Infection Prevention (LTC-CIP) is now open. The LTC-CIP is the first certification to specifically measure competencies necessary to protect long-term care residents from infection. Successful long-term care infection prevention certification indicates competence in the current basic knowledge needed for persons practicing infection prevention and control within a long-term care setting. Learn More
NHSN Updates for Long-Term Care Facilities: Vaccination Modules
Long-term care (LTC) facilities that are required to report annual health care personnel influenza vaccination data into the National NHSN must do so using the Healthcare Personnel Safety (HPS) Component. Reporting weekly influenza vaccination data through the NHSN LTC Facility Component does not fulfill this reporting requirement. The CDC is not collecting weekly influenza vaccination data for LTC residents and health care personnel covering the 2022-2023 influenza season. The deadline to report the annual health care personnel influenza vaccination summary data through the NHSN HPS Component is May 15, 2023.
Resources:
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Watch Our NHSN Shop Talk Shorts Series!
We know you're busy. Our new video series answers the most common questions we receive regarding navigating NHSN in a brief way. Available videos cover the following topics:
View NHSN Shop Talk Video Series
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Access FREE expert guidance on this topic: Contact Amy Ward |
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CMS Nursing Home Infection Prevention Has Never Been More Important Than It Is Now
Alliant Health Solutions and our training partner, Rainmakers Strategic Solutions, are reaching out to nursing homes with direct care staff who participated in infection prevention (IP) training to increase readiness for future pandemics and improve knowledge of direct care staff. Rainmakers is requesting confirmation that direct care staff received IP training that covered the following topics:
- Hand hygiene
- Standard and transmission-based precautions
- PPE
- Environmental hygiene
To minimize time away from your priorities, we created the following link to the training assessment for your facilities: https://bit.ly/NHIPAssessment.
Got questions? Need help? Want more information? Contact Rainmakers Strategic Solutions at 800-950-5636 or email NHIPTraining@rainmakerssolutions.com.
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Access FREE expert guidance on this topic: Contact Amy Ward |
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Promote Cardiac Rehabilitation During Heart Health Month
Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) is an evidence-based, multidisciplinary intervention proven to enhance patients’ recovery efforts, health outcomes and overall quality of life after a serious cardiac event or surgery. Qualifying cardiac events for CR eligibility include a heart attack, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), heart valve replacement or repair, a heart or heart-lung transplant, chronic stable angina, and chronic stable heart failure.
Patients and providers need to know that the expert care provided in a CR program cannot be substituted by a gym membership or nutrition and wellness webinars. CR encompasses 36 one-hour sessions, usually over 12 weeks. CR sessions include:
- Clinically supervised exercise routines by exercise physiologists
- Personalized medical nutrition therapy by registered dietitians
- Individualized counseling by behavioral and mental health specialists
- Peer support from other participants with this shared life experience and assistance from other multidisciplinary professionals trained in delivering evidence-based recovery methods in these respective health and wellness fields
Research shows that people who attend all 36 sessions of a CR program have a 47% lower risk of death and a 31% lower risk of heart attack than those who attend only one session, with up to a 24% reduction in mortality risk within one to three years of CR program participation. Cardiac rehabilitation is also known to promote a re-hospitalization risk reduction of up 30% following program completion.
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New Resource: Project Charter
Alliant Health Solutions created a project charter to help teams develop clearly defined project responsibilities for their quality improvement initiatives. The project charter is available for download on the Alliant website. Download Project Charter
Upcoming Event: Nursing Home Readmissions Affinity Group Session 5: Engaging the Interdisciplinary Team
Join us on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, at 2 p.m. ET for the Nursing Home Readmissions Affinity Group Series Session 5: Engaging the Interdisciplinary Team. CEU credit is available for nursing home administrators and nurses. Participants will learn how to integrate the interdisciplinary team into patient education with a focus on self-management strategies in preparation for a successful transition to the next level of care. In addition, participants will learn about one facility’s experience in piloting the expansion of their patient education approach to include the entire interdisciplinary team. Register Here
Post-Discharge Text Messaging Tip Sheet
A post-discharge text messaging program can be part of an overall strategy to reduce rehospitalizations and emergency department visits. It can also address risk factors or barriers to adherence to a discharge plan of care as they arise. A new Alliant tip sheet provides tips and links to resources to help providers develop a post-discharge text messaging program in their practice or facility. Download Tip Sheet
Earn NAB and ANCC Credits With Our 2023 Partnership for Community Health and Nursing Home LANs
NAB and ANCC credits will be available to participants of our Partnership for Community Health (PCH) and Nursing Home half-hour webinars. The webinars are typically held on the fourth Thursday of every other month at 12:30 p.m. EST/11:30 a.m. CST. Take advantage of these brief webinars highlighting best practices that impact readmissions and emergency department visits and/or improve transitions of care. NAB and ANCC credits are also available for some of our Affinity Group series. Visit the Alliant Health Solutions Virtual Events Page
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Resource to Raise Community Awareness on the Importance of Pneumonia Vaccines
Alliant Health Solutions partnered with a health literacy expert and our Beneficiary and Family Advisory Council to produce a two-minute video to help raise awareness and address common reasons for declining the pneumococcal vaccine.
Ways to use the video in your community:
- Play the video in the lobby, waiting room or on patient television channels in your organization or health system.
- Share broadly with community organizations that serve older adults:
- Senior housing complexes
- Assisted living communities
- Faith-based organizations
- Local health departments
- VFWs or other veterans organizations
- Senior Centers
- Ask your local television station to run as a public service announcement.
The video is easily accessible on the Alliant Health Solutions YouTube channel. Access Video
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Members of the Beneficiary & Family Advisory Council are our partners in making health care better. To join us in this important work, contact Mel Brown or submit this referral form.
Browse resources our council has worked on below:
Looking Ahead: Medicare in 2023 and Beyond
This year the Medicare enrollment process will finally receive long overdue updates, modernization, and simplification through the implementation of the provisions of the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES). People who enroll during the General Enrollment Period or the later months of their Initial Enrollment Period will no longer experience months-long delays for their coverage to go into effect. People who make enrollment mistakes based on misinformation from their employer or insurance company will have clearer avenues to correct those errors, and people who experience other exceptional or unusual circumstances, like natural disasters or incarceration, will have long-needed enrollment flexibilities. The secretary of Health and Human Services will also have the authority to establish additional special enrollment periods to allow people facing other exceptional situations to access the Medicare benefits they are entitled to without delay or penalty. Read Article
Safer Internet Day USA
Safer Internet Day, celebrated on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, is a great time for families to pause and talk about internet safety and wellness. Safer Internet Day aims to create both a safer and a better internet, where everyone is empowered to use technology responsibly, respectfully, critically and creatively. By celebrating the positive power of the internet, the Safer Internet Day slogan of “Together for a better internet” encourages everyone to join the movement, to participate, and to make the most of the internet’s potential to bring people together. Learn More
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For archived issues:
Visit the News & Announcements section of the Alliant Health Solutions website.
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For more information about Alliant Health Solutions:
www.quality.alliantquality.org
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