STAFFING MANDATES

Assessment requirements have increased

Staffing mandate assessments are going to make compliance harder. CMS wants nursing homes to go beyond meeting the minimum staffing thresholds and prepare for updated assessment requirements. “Those minimum standards are only the beginning,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wrote in the mandate proposal.

Sara Deiter, VP of Consulting with Health Dimensions Group, noted that the long-term care workforce has been drained over the past few years, with burnout and wage competition reaching critical levels.

The industry is struggling to meet existing staffing requirements, Deiter said. And so, coupled with CMS’s call for an increase in standards, and the estimated need for 60,000 new nurses, the situation poses a significant hurdle, especially with challenges in nursing school admissions.

Excelas’ structured Timelines are an excellent way to document, preserve, organize, and present the actions your organization takes to address patient/resident and workplace safety.

Our robust Comprehensive Integrated Timeline Tool, CITT (pronounced “kit”) allows clients to incorporate key data with guidelines, regulations and standards in a variety of situations, including:

• Responses to regulatory agencies:
• Responses to government agencies investigating fraud, waste and abuse:
• Preparation for independent accrediting agencies
• Preparation for industry performance recognition reviews

We can provide a brief summary of our findings, or simply pull out data points for your review.

INFECTION CONTROLS

Major COVID outbreak demonstrates nursing home threat amid vaccination slide

The situation at Limecrest Subacute and Rehabilitation Center, a 159-bed facility in Northern New Jersey, demonstrates just how dangerous COVID still is for vulnerable seniors and other patients who call skilled nursing facilities home.

Since September, 66 staff members and residents have been sickened by the virus, with seven residents dying.

Providers have been struggling this fall to get their hands on enough vaccines to cover residents and to offer updated shots for healthcare workers, who are no longer obligated under a vaccination requirement. In some facilities, providers have described having to prioritize some residents over others.

ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Artificial Intelligence in healthcare – regulations, standards, and legal issues

The use of artificial intelligence is exploding.  Concurrently, the healthcare sector, particularly long-term care, is facing ongoing workforce challenges.  Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can potentially alleviate some tasks to allow medical staff to focus on direct patient care as well as augment clinical decision-making.  Opportunities with, and concerns around, the use of AI are at the forefront of the government, regulatory bodies, industry groups, and legal and medical professionals.

Leaders in all aspects of the healthcare industry are concerned with the liability issues related to artificial intelligence. Technology professionals note that liability is an issue which is not addressed in Biden’s October 20, 2023 Executive Order, and vague standards may have to be resolved in court, such as adverse events that are traced back to the use of AI.  Medical professionals grapple with the reliability of AI in patient care, with concerns about how programs were built and the underlying data.  Insurers face lawsuits alleging AI algorithms were used to deny coverage.

EXCELAS METRICS

November 2023 Performance Metrics

As of November 30, 2023 Exceals LLC customized solutions included:

19,079,580 Pages
14,248 Records/Cases reviewed
380 Clients & firms supported