Member Resources

Updates provided on Mass Senior Care's A Guidebook: Building a CNA Talent Pipeline, EOHHS discharge resources and guidelines for hospitals and the DPH weekly call.

This memorandum shares information on the SBA Payroll Protection Program, invites members to join CMS and CDC for a fireside chat on vaccine safety on Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 4:00 pm ET and also discusses MassHealth updates to LTC eligibility application form (SACA-2).

Discussion on AG Healey advisory on stimulus payment, important change to NHSN point-of-care test reporting requirement, OSHA required 2020 injury and illness data due March 2, and HHS extention of public health emergency.

A reminder to members that CHIA data submissions are due tomorrow and an announcement about a new round of PPP funding.

Mass Senior Care is pleased to welcome new members to our Association. Our Associate Members have demonstrated their commitment to the senior care provider community by joining Mass Senior Care and participating as exhibitors and sponsors for events and educational conferences. Mass Senior Care members are encouraged to contact Associate Members when they are in need of long term care products and services. You can find all of our Associate Members listed on our website, www.maseniorcare.org/preferred-vendors.

Recent updates regarding COVID-19 include: COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs, State’s COVID-19 Staffing Portal 3.0, COVID-19 Vaccination Criteria, CMS Updated Guidance on Focused Infection Control Surveys, and Update to Comprehensive PPE Guidance

Now that we are nearing the end of the second week of the federal vaccination clinic rollout, nearly 320 facilities have successfully completed their first clinics and are reporting that these highly anticipated events are running smoothly. CVS and Walgreens have been conducting the clinics for both residents and staff and anticipate having all clinics completed by January 25, 2021.

Members are invited to join today’s COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Session with CMS and CDC, provided information on CMS revised criteria for conducting focused infection control surveys and survey FAQs, update to comprehensive PPE guidance, and clarification on reporting of BinaxNOW POC test results.

Information provided on the MassHealth Nursing Facility Bulletin 159 which updates the conditions for participating in the new targeted Isolation Space program, COVID-19 Long-Term Care Staffing Portal 3.0, COVID-19 Vaccination Criteria, and DPH Weekly Call new participant code.

Members are reminded the DPH Skilled Nursing Facilities Monoclonal Antibody Therapy Survey is due tomorrow, and updated on MassHealth Nursing Facility Bulletin 158: Updated COVID-19 Ongoing Surveillance Testing Requirements for Nursing Facilities which supersedes MassHealth Nursing Facility Bulletin 152.

Happy New Year Best Wishes for a Happy Healthy 2021! From Mass Senior Care

The National Health Care Safety Network (NHSN) has reported that there is an error occurring with data upload to the NHSN Long Term Care Facility modules. This has to do with an incorrect auto-populated date error. The ​CDC is urgently working to correct the NHSN application error that is impacting reporting COVID-19 data since December 26, 2020. When entering weekly COVID-19 data for the week of December 21-27, the pre-populated date for the week indicates that the week ends on December 27, 2021, instead of December 27, 2020. When trying to save data, the system generates an error message and will not allow facilities to save their data. A solution will be deployed in the NHSN application later this week, but until then a work-around can be used to continue reporting COVID-19 vaccination data.

Mass Senior Care is making resources available in its COVID-19 Vaccination Toolkit accessible to staff by providing materials in four different languages, including Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Haitian Creole and Traditional Chinese. All of the resources, including posters, a template letter to staff and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can be accessed and downloaded from our COVID-19 Vaccination webpage, https://www.maseniorcare.org/covid-vaccine.

The Massachusetts Congressional Delegation this week sent a letter, led by Congresswoman Lori Trahan, to the Director of the CDC requesting that the CDC approve the Commonwealth’s request to offer four vaccination clinics at long-term care facilities in Massachusetts through the Long-Term Care Pharmacy Partnership Program.

Amidst celebratory backdrops, on December 28th more than 30 nursing facilities in Massachusetts began vaccinating residents and staff with the COVID-19 vaccine, offering a sign of hope to facilities that have courageously battled this insidious virus over the past 10 months. “Today marks a critical and hopeful milestone in our fight against Covid-19 with the first wave of vaccines being distributed in nursing facilities across the Commonwealth,” said Tara M. Gregorio, Mass Senior Care Association President.

Members are asked to respond to MSCA vaccination clinic outreach, reminded about the definition of staff for vaccination, given information on BinaxNOW Rapid Point of Care COVID-19 Testing for ALR, and invited to register for today’s COVID-19 vaccine safety chat with AHCA, CMC and the CDC.

Memo shares information on a provider experience with COVID-19 vaccination clinic, BinaxNOW guidance for LTC facilities, EOHHS final October 2020 Medicaid Rate regulation with modifications, HHS update of the Provider Relief Fund FAQ, and provides a reminder about the DPH weekly call.

Member COVID-19 updates on MassHealth 2nd Room Density Report due 12/31/2020; MassHealth increasing supplemental payment for the new targeted Isolation Space Program; new DPH webpage for COVID-19 guidance for LTC facilities; healthcare license renewals extended; additional CDC resources on COVID-19 vaccination, and Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet.

DPH released updated Guidance Regarding Seasonal Influenza Vaccination of Healthcare Personnel at Massachusetts Nursing Homes and Rest Homes for the 2020-2021 Season and MassHealth has issued Eligibility Operations Memo (EOM) 20-21 Level-of-Care Screening Process.

This memo shares information on COVID-19 vaccination materials available in four languages, reminds members to update November Surveillance testing payments with CHIA, and provides a corrected link for assisted living CLIA waivers.

Member updates on Congress passing a $900 billion stimulus package, new rate for staff surveillance testing, CDC releases additional guidance on COVID-19 vaccination in long-term care facilities, OSHA releases resource for understanding compliance with OSHA’s Respiratory Protection standard, county positivity rates >10% in Bristol & Nantucket counties, MassHealth issues bulletin on Coverage and Payment for COVID-19 Vaccine Administration, Testing, and Monoclonal Antibody Product Infusion, and DPH weekly call reminder.

Another reminder to members regarding the Town Hall Meeting at 8 pm Tonight with EOHHS Secretary Marylou Sudders.

A memo reminding members about the Town Hall Meeting tonight with EOHHS Secretary Marylou Sudders, the CMS-CDC Nursing Home Stakeholder Call scheduled for tomorrow and to order BinaxNow test kits from DPH.

This memorandum shares information on the confirmation of verbal consent from Walgreens and CVS, a COVID-19 Town Hall Meeting for Nursing Home Workers, Emergency Use Authorization Fact Sheet for COVID-19 in multiple languages, BinaxNow Test Kits and a COVID-19 vaccine presentation.

Memorandum To: Mass Senior Care Members From: Tara M. Gregorio, President Re: COVID-19 Updates: DPH Releases Guidance on Considerations for HCP After COVID-19 Vaccination; Mass Senior Care Shares COVID-19 Vaccine Resources, and CHIA Reporting Extensions During the Holiday Season Date: December 17, 2020 DPH Releases Guidance on Considerations for Health Care Personnel After COVID-19 Vaccination The DPH has released guidance on Considerations for Health Care Personnel After COVID-19 Vaccination. Health care personnel may experience side effects following COVID-19 vaccination. Providers

Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season from all of us here at Massachusetts Senior Care Association.

It is hard to imagine long term care staff having the time or energy to do much of anything beyond their workday after dealing with the extraordinary demands of caring for residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. But more than 75 individuals submitted applications for the 2021 Mass Senior Care Foundation Scholarship program, a testament to the commitment and dedication of our caregiving staff.

To assist members with talking to long term care staff, residents, and family members about the importance of getting a COVID-19 vaccine, Mass Senior Care has created a new campaign “Arming Ourselves Against COVID-19”. The campaign’s dedicated webpage at www.maseniorcare.org/covid-vaccine has resources related to the COVID-19 vaccine including links to information about vaccine allocation, safety and efficacy, as well as tools to prepare your vaccination clinics.

Information is provided on consents required by CVS and Walgreens for the COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC recommendations on post-vaccine considerations for residents, additional tools and resources offered by DPH and Provider Relief Fund FAQs for vaccine distribution.

Members are given updates on Pfizer EUA COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet, obtaining CLIA waivers for ALRs, AHCA vaccination office hours and reminded about the weekly DPH call.

Shares Vaccine Clinic Deployment materials developed by the American Health Care Association (AHCA).

A notice to members that EOHHS Secretary Marylou Sudders will be hosting a MassHealth stakeholder call on Monday, December 14th from 2:30pm – 3:30 pm to give a high-level overview of the Commonwealth’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan.

On Tuesday, December 15 at 3:00pm Eastern, Vince Crisler, Founder and CEO of cybersecurity company Dark Cubed, will lead a one-hour presentation titled Cybersecurity Essentials for Long Term Care. From his time at the Pentagon, to CISO at the White House, and his years managing massive cyber and critical infrastructures at the Department of Homeland Security, Vince commands a deep understanding of the myriad challenges that organizations face given the ever expanding and evolving cyber threat landscape.

Mass Senior Care is pleased to welcome new members to our Association. Our Associate Members have demonstrated their commitment to the senior care provider community by joining Mass Senior Care and participating as exhibitors and sponsors for events and educational conferences. Mass Senior Care members are encouraged to contact Associate Members when they are in need of long term care products and services.

The AHCA/NCAL Infection Control Certificate Program is designed for skilled nursing and assisted living staff and features two main areas.

In a recent website posting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighted two successful infection prevention success stories from Massachusetts. As the CDC noted, “Many long-term care facilities across the country are taking actions to implement CDC guidance and keep residents and staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. These stories highlight a small selection of the ongoing work of those facilities.”

As we complete Week 4 of the 16-week Project ECHO sessions, the focus of this week’s curriculum pivoted to address participants concerns and questions about the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Commonwealth’s nursing facilities. During the sessions, nursing facility participants, geriatricians, and long term care clinicians reviewed the latest news regarding the vaccine and discussed how to safely and effectively implement it in nursing facilities. Since the vaccine is on a fast track for distribution and nursing facilities in Massachusetts are prioritized in Phase 1, next week’s Project ECHO session will continue the discussion on vaccine management with a substantial amount of time being devoted to Q&A.

The memo reviews DPH information on vaccine distribution, update to Exposure & Return to Work Guidance, BinaxNow Test Kits availability and reminds members about the AHCA Vaccine Webinar.

Members are made aware of EOHHS and DPH updates to long-term care guidance as well as updated resources for REDCap.

Announcement on the webinar on staff and resident roster reporting to CHIA and a reminder about the DPH weekly call.

Members are provided informaion on AHCA webinar on vaccination clinics, update to Nursing Home Compare and 5 Star Rating System, BinaxNow test kits from DPH and MHA to offer 2nd opportunity to bulk purchase PPE.

While the Thanksgiving holiday may have looked different this year, Mass Senior Care members worked tirelessly to help residents and their family members safely celebrate the holidays in the midst of a pandemic. Mass Senior Care extends our gratitude to our long term care heroes for going above and beyond to ensure residents are staying healthy and engaged with their loved ones.