Medicaid Cuts Lessened
At the Medicaid Stakeholders meeting at DHS on February 3, Gene Gessow, gave a March 1 deadline to submit proposals to reduce the Medicaid budget. That did not give us any time to research any ideas where savings could be extracted. A conference call meeting was held on February 24, to discuss how we could react to the deadline. It was decided that we would send a one-page letter outlining why our programs should not be cut. Since there are two programs involved, we decided we should send a page on each. These were submitted on February 26, and confirmed by Gene Gessow by email.
On April 15 there was a second stakeholders meeting. The tone of DHS had changed significantly. About $50 million in additional funding from several sources had been identified. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will require Medicaid to conform to the federal law. They believe that this will save the state money. There will be changes coming. The pertinent sections of PPACA have been downloaded and the 23 pages of material posted on our website on the Resource page.
On another issue, a DHS team which apparently consists of persons from Medicaid, Behavioral Health and a Medicaid QA provider, has been surveying facilities regarding an upcoming IMD audit by CMS. The team is visiting the mental health providers that residents of those facilities use also. The survey has been easy and quick and consists of them looking at the facility and asking a few questions. The audit is expected this month.
Health Services Permit Commission Meeting
The commission met on March 10. The agenda was short and the meeting lasted about an hour. There were several requests for extension of POAs. Those requests with more than three extensions which did not have someone there to defend them were denied.
Some time ago, operators participated in a survey. We did ask about the survey and was told there was information available but have not received it yet.
HSPA sent out a new survey April 9. There was one change that had to do with changing the word “retarded” to the politically correct term. The deadline for the survey was April 30 but if one has not completed the survey they should do so now. The link to the survey is on our website on the Resource page.
MicroFridge
MicroFridge® has been acquired by Danby Products from the Mac-Gray Corporation. Danby intends to retain all MicroFridge’s employees and says they will offer the same level of customer service. MicroFridge makes refrigerators and microwave ovens that are used in many ALFs and hotels (and they give away ice cream at tradeshows).
License
If you are reading this and your application to renew your facility license has not been submitted to the Office of Long Term Care it is late. Renewal applications must be mailed by March 1.
Health Services Meeting
There will be Health Services Permit Commission meeting on March 10, at 10:00 a.m., at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality building in North Little Rock. The agenda looks to be short. The HSPA has received five Assisted Living applications in this period for 313 beds.
If you missed the All Hazards Response Planning or the Effective Communications Seminars this year all is not lost. One may view those seminars online and take a test for credit. To access this, go to the Education navigation bar and click on the Continuing Education item. On this page you will find the policies and procedures of the program and the registration sheet. Information about the number of CEUs and the price of each offering is on the registration form. Print off the registration form, fill it out and mail or fax it back to the ARALA office. You will receive the password to the page, the test and evaluation sheet. Then view the video and complete the test. When completed, return the test and evaluation form to the ARALA office. To get credit one must score at least 80% on the test. Your documentation of completion will be returned by mail. For more information get the procedures sheet from the website.
