MassHealth has scheduled a webinar on Monday, May 10, 2021, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST in regard to providing guidance to providers on how to make adjustments to the PPA for period of April 2020 through November 2020.

In accordance with MassHealth Nursing Facility Bulletin 163, CHIA will be deploying an updated CHIA Submissions portal used to submit staffing hours data on Monday, May 3rd. Also, county positivity rates released by DPH on April 28, 2021 indicates Barnstable County has remained 5% at 6.61%.

Mass Senior Care is offering several webinars on important COVID-19 related topics, including life safety code, employment leaves and rebuilding census. Please click on the links below to register or email lnguyen@maseniorcare.org if you have any questions.

Meet Dianne Ferraro who is one of the 45,000 dedicated caregivers working on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic to protect and care for the Commonwealth’s nursing home residents. Dianne is a Nurse Unit Manager at Alliance Health at Rosewood in Peabody.

MassHealth requires that nursing facilities and chronic disease and rehabilitation inpatient hospitals account for the balances of personal needs allowance (PNA) account funds. MassHealth has issued its annual LTC Bulletin for the accounting of balances of personal needs allowances (PNA) for residents in LTC facilities.

Massachusetts Senior Care Association is excited to participate in the upcoming observance of National Skilled Nursing Care Week (NSNCW), which will be held May 9-15, 2021. This year's theme, "Together Through the Seasons," will honor the collaborative commitment of skilled nursing care facilities and their staff in providing compassionate care to their residents during this unprecedented time.

Join Mass Senior Care in advocating for quality nursing facility care in the state FY2022 budget. The budget is now being considered by the Massachusetts Senate. Please ask your State Senator to make nursing facility funding a priority in the state budget!

Please join us for Mass Senior Care Association’s 2021 virtual Spring Conference on Thursday, May 6, 2021. As we begin to slowly emerge from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that we begin to take steps to move forward. Our dynamic conference speakers, Steven Littlehale, MS, CGNS-BC, Chief Innovation Officer at Zimmet Healthcare Service Group and Martha Hayward, founding member of the Conversation Project and Lead Faculty for Patient Centered Care with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) will offer their respective perspectives on how the CMS Five Star System and our approaches to End of Life Conversations have been impacted by COVID-19 and will offer strategies we can implement to help our staff and our organizations adjust to the new operating environment.