News In Brief - May 7, 2014

Sign up to talk to Larry!
LeadingAge President and CEO Larry Minnix wants to talk to you! Those of you acquainted with Larry know he loves to hear what’s happening “on the ground” at LeadingAge member organizations. He takes the opportunity to visit and interview LeadingAge members every chance he gets, but he finds it’s not enough.

So Larry has cleared his day on Friday, May 30 to schedule calls with members in 15-minute increments. He wants to hear how you’re doing, what your biggest recent success has been, what keeps you up at night, and what LeadingAge (and LeadingAge Oregon!) can do to help you. What you share will help LeadingAge fine-tune policy and advocacy activities and sharpen the focus of education and other services. Read more about Larry’s “Let’s Talk Day” and complete this form to request a time. Let Larry know what’s going on in Oregon!

Nursing facility staff invited to learn more about Nursing Facility Reduction Initiative
The state will hold an informational presentation and question/answer session June 5 on Oregon's Nursing Facility Reduction Initiative. Passed in 2013, HB 2216 created legislative authority for Oregon’s Nursing Facility Reduction Initiative to reduce excess nursing facility (NF) capacity by eliminating 1,500 beds statewide by December 31, 2015. Under the initiative, nursing facilities that “buy and close” other nursing facilities between October 1, 2013 and December 31, 2015 will be given an augmented rated of $9.75 per resident day for 4 years from date of purchase. The meeting will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Room 123 of the Old Fish and Wildlife Building, 3406 Cherry Ave., Salem.

Town hall meetings set to examine state’s behavioral health system
The Oregon Health Authority has scheduled a series of six town hall meetings to discuss the state’s behavioral health system, including addictions and mental health services. Housing and care providers are encouraged to attend to provide your ideas for building an expanded and better coordinated behavioral health system. Access the Town Hall schedule.

Free workshop offers strategies to prevent, measure and reduce infections in nursing homes
The Oregon Patient Safety Commission will hold a free, full-day workshop May 13 in Portland targeted to all staff at nursing facilities involved in infection prevention. During the program, participants will learn how to design and implement an effective Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) plan using infection prevention goals. Learn more. Register online.

Engage your staff to increase safety
This month’s Oregon Patient Safety Commission newsletter offers a number of ideas to strengthen staff engagement, which in turn can enhance resident safety efforts and quality of care and services. One article focuses on ways to present data that can inspire and motivate staff, and reconnect them with their work. Read the newsletter.

CMS proposes to increase Medicare rates 2 percent in 2015
CMS this week issued its proposed Medicare PPS/Consolidated Billing Rule, which calls for a Medicare rate increase of 2 percent in 2015 as well as several other provisions impacting skilled nursing facilities. Read the LeadingAge summary of the proposed rule.

Have you downloaded your LeadingAge Insights Market Share Report?
The second report in the LeadingAge Insights Market Position series is now available through the Insights website. The data analysis from Avalere Health provides facility-level patient-movement data for Medicare providers in your market area. You can use this data to better understand discharge patterns and diagnoses, which can uncover potential opportunities for capturing patient volume in your market. Access the Market Share report.

New ICD-10 compliance date set: October 1, 2015
With Congress passing legislation delaying the implementation of ICD-10 to no earlier than October 1, 2015, CMS has sent word that the new compliance date, as expected, will be October 1, 2015. CMS had planned to conduct ICD-10 testing in July but has cancelled those plans due to the delay. New testing dates will be scheduled in 2015.

View LeadingAge marketing tips videos and share your own
The LeadingAge marketing team is looking to share great member marketing ideas and tips through YouTube videos that members can upload. To kick things off, LeadingAge VP of Marketing Alishia Parkhill uploaded a video of her own. Check it out, and start thinking about a tip you can share!

Free webinar will help you analyze and demonstrate housing needs in your community
The National Housing Conference Center for Housing Policy has scheduled a free webinar at 11 a.m. (PDT) on Friday May 9 to teach housing providers and advocates how to access, analyze and present local data related to housing from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Participants will have the opportunity to locate data for their areas and will get tips on how to present the data to make a compelling story. Register for the webinar.

Conference attendees: Be sure to RSVP for Saturday burgers at DeShane’s
If you will be in the Redmond area on Saturday May 17 and aren’t golfing in the Michael DeShane golf extravaganza but would like to join the group for burgers at Michael’s Tumalo home afterward, please e-mail Michael at [email protected]. Non-golfers who would like to come are more than welcome, but he needs to know you’re coming so he doesn’t run out of burgers!

There’s still time to join us at Annual Conference 2014!
We have heard through the grapevine that a couple of members thought our 2014 Annual Conference (May 18-21, Eagle Crest Resort) is full and registration is closed, but that is not the case – registration is still open and there’s still time to register! We would love to have you join us at our premiere event of the year, where you can connect with friends and colleagues and re-ignite your passion for the important work that you do. Lodging is definitely tight at Eagle Crest Resort; if you need ideas of alternative accommodations, just call us at the LeadingAge Oregon office, 503.684.3788.

Watch for pre-conference e-mails coming soon!
For those of you who have already registered for the conference, please keep an eye out for pre-conference e-mails related to online handouts (remember we don’t print them for you!) and other important information to know before you arrive in Central Oregon.