AGENDA

Pre-Conference Workshops
Sunday, July 8th

Registration & Exhibits

Get The Inside Scoop: Understand the Complex New Quality
Measures/Quality Indicators
Presented By: Kathy Pellatt and Linda Smith
You will get expert knowledge on how CMS Quality Measures (QMs) and Quality Indicators (QIs) are defined and calculated. You will walk-a-way with an understanding how they are impacted by very specific MDS data elements and common coding errors; and considering how they are-and are not-risk adjusted and what that means for your facility rates. Our expert will dig into real resident data and case study examples to give you key quality measurement. You will get approaches to investigating root causes and systems/process issues related to the QM/QIs, as well as care plan strategies to help your interdisciplinary team meet regulatory requirements, improve care planning and overall quality of care. You will have a better understanding of:
1) Importance of MDS coding accuracy and consistency and the impact on QM/QI rates;
2) Limitations in the MDS and QM/QIs and how to overcome them; and
3) How to understand and interpret these data and put them to real use in your facility quality improvement processes.

Know the ABCs of Pain Assessment & Management
Presented By: Sarah Riggins, RN
When we speak about pain and the elderly we tend to focus primarily on verbalized acute pain in our patients. This perspective is certainly appropriate, but we also need to address pain assessment and management in the resident’s with chronic pain, those without the ability to communicate pain, and those facing end of life issue related to pain. Awareness of pain goes beyond assessing it in the elders we care for.

Our expert will explore pain assessments, and pain management in our work environments. She will review:
1) Strategies for assessing pain (verbal and nonverbal)
2) Management of pain through interventions (non-pharmacological & pharmacological)
3) Accurate MDS coding for pain in J1
4) Care Planning pain and related conditions
5) Review of the QIQM’s as they relate to pain

Registration, Exhibits, & Continental Breakfast

Diversity: Breaking Down Barriers In Workplace Interactions
Presented By: Martha Holstein, Ph.D
When we think and speak about diversity we tend to focus primarily on race, culture, and religion-and on our patients and clients. This perspective is certainly appropriate but we are also different in many other, perhaps less visible, ways. Awareness of diversity goes beyond recognizing it among people we care for. Our expert will explore diversity in its varied manifestations and examine how these differences manifest themselves in our work environment. She will suggest strategies for making difference work for us rather than against us whether those differences are among our colleagues or our patients and clients. Ethical care means more than obeying rules. It means competence that calls upon us to understand as well as we can how the person we are caring for needs to have his or her needs fulfilled. It also means creating a workplace in which differences are noticed and addressed safely and respectfully, ethical responsibilities that can be difficult to meet in the hectic pace of our daily lives.

Do You Want To Win the Quality Award? Follow the Quality Leaders To Success
Presented By: Bernie Dana
What is it that some are doing that brings high customer satisfaction & business success that many others are not? Our expert collaborated on a research project to identify common themes among high performance long term care facilities. He examined the practices of the 2004 recipients of the Step 2 and Step 3 American Health Care Association Quality Awards and conducted in-depth interviews with the leaders to explore their quality journey. In this session, you will get the seven common pathways found in high performance LTC facilities.

1) Competence with Compassion: How to Handle Resident & Family Complaints
Presented By: TBD

2) MDS Organizational Management: Get The Who, What, When, How of Managing the Operations
Presented By: Sheryl Rosenfield
Session description coming soon!

3) The Art of Communication: New CAN and Charge Nurse Retention Through Peer Mentoring
Presented By: Carol Hegeman
You will walk-a-way with a definition and rationale for effective peer mentoring for LTC direct care staff. You will examine empirical evidence that formal and carefully crafted peer mentoring programs improve retention. The FLTC's CNA peer mentoring program improved retention of new CNAs in 31 of 33 participating nursing homes! Our expert will give you practical suggestions for implementing successful peer mentoring programs. Lastly, it will provide sample training content for the staff facility selects to be mentors.

1) Negotiating Risk: Implications for Liability
Presented By: TBD
Session description coming soon!

2) Using the MDS: You Collected the Information, Now Use It!
Presented By: Sheryl Rosenfield
Session description coming soon!

3) Medicare Auditing for Compliance and Reimbursement:
A Forensic Review of the UB-92- Part I
Presented By: Marc Zimmet
Downcoding and overbilling are two of the most prevalent problems facing the reimbursement team. This session will focus on reimbursement auditing techniques using the Medicare UB-92 billing form. The UB-92 is the manifestation of all care provided in the SNF. The UB-92 contains demographic information, hospitalization dates, RUG scores, ancillary services, diagnosis codes, etc. When analyzed, it reveals significant compliance and reimbursement secrets. Our expert will link the UB-92 to the MDS, clinical documentation and ancillary service logs to give the entire reimbursement team understanding how their actions resonate throughout the Medicare revenue cycle.

You will get real-life examples on:
· How facilities over and under bill the Medicare program
· Inconsistencies that serve as "red flags" to Medicare for audit, identify common billing pitfalls and explain the most common causes of lost reimbursement.
· Review of the current RUG 53 billing distribution. This data will be invaluable to participants for benchmarking their own performance with the new system.
· Leave empowered to return to yout facilities to conduct these important, revealing UB-92 audits on their own.

This program is appropriate (and essential) for the entire reimbursement management team including business office personnel, clinicians and administrators.

1) Explore RAPS & Clinical Issues with MDS to Improve Care
Presented By: Rena Shephard
Session description coming soon!

2) Medicare Auditing for Compliance and Reimbursement:
A Forensic Review of the UB-92- Part II
Presented By: Marc Zimmet
Continuation Session

3) Become An Expert: New Tools & Strategies to Prevent Fractures in Nursing Homes
Presented By: Christie Teigland
Fracture rates are 11x higher in nursing home (NH) residents, osteoporosis remains largely undiagnosed (only 17% identified) and untreated (28% of diagnosed and 3.5% of undiagnosed but likely to have osteoporosis receive any pharmacological treatment). Findings from a study using longitudinal MDS data for 700+ NHs provide evidence that i) supports changing current practice, showing20-25% of female residents sustain a fracture during their NH stay, often after 1-2 years; and ii) demonstrates how existing MDS can be used to accurately identify residents at highest risk for fracture who would benefit most from further evaluation and treatment and guide interventions aimed at preventing fractures. Avoidable fractures lead to serious declines in quality of life, including functional and cognitive decline, chronic pain, pressure ulcers, and often death.

Objectives

1. Discuss evidence to dispel existing myths about the health benefits and cost effectiveness of assessing and treating osteoporosis in frail elderly nursing home residents.
2. Communicate the significant burden of under-diagnosing and under-treating osteoporosis and quantify the benefits of changing current practice.
Provide practical tools to help nursing home staffs use existing data to identify residents at greatest risk for fracture who would benefit most from further review and guide person-centered interventions and treatment aimed at preventing the occurrence of fractures.

Continental Breakfast & Exhibits

Effective Implementation of Newly Revised, Tougher F Tags on Unnecessary Medications & Pharmacy Services: Stay Ahead of the Curve
Presented By: Linda Mathis
Session description coming soon!

Refreshment Break

1) Don't Make Me Have To - Dealing with Combative Behaviors
Presented By: Diana Waugh
"I just don't know what to do with her. She's confused and wanders and hits." Dealing with behaviors exhibited by confused residents requires an understanding of motivation, a drive to learn who the resident really is, and the desire to find out what they want to do and help them get it done.
In this session, you will get a discussion of "who's problem is it?" as well as a look at the staff causes of challenging resident behaviors. Our expert will focus on factors that impact behaviors while looking for that individualized intervention that will make both the resident's and the staff member's day successful.

2) Master the Ins and Out of Activities Daily Living MDS Assessment
Presented By: Rena Shephard
Session description coming soon!

3) Emerging Financial Issues: Navigate the CMS and State Medicaid Programs
Presented By: Steve Jones
You have to focus on the efficiency of your operations, from optimizing resident assessments to Benchmarking yourself against peers and competitors. In this session, you will examine case studies & opportunities from state cost reports, Medicare Fiscal Intermediaries, and CMS to benchmark providers. You will get expert advice on where CMS and state Medicaid programs for SNFs are heading and give you some proven tactics to help you sharpen your focus, and better deal with the coming changes.