Tuesday, Sept. 1 – Day 1
*All times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time. This schedule is subject to change.
10 – 10:05 am | Welcome and Opening Remarks
Tracey Moorhead, President and CEO, AAPACN
10:05 – 11:20 am | 1.1 – Preventing Falls, Improving Outcomes
Jessie McGill, RN, BSN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, and Lauren Stenson, DNP, RN, CNDLTC, QCP, DNS-CT, both with AAPACN
Falls resulting in major injury can have devastating consequences for residents and significant implications for nursing facility quality outcomes. While falls remain a persistent challenge in long-term care, facilities can reduce the risk of serious injury through proactive assessment, interdisciplinary collaboration, individualized interventions, and strong post-fall management processes.
As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) prepares to transition the Falls with Major Injury Quality Measure from an MDS-based measure to a hybrid measure incorporating Medicare claims data, nursing homes must also be prepared for increased focus on documentation accuracy, care coordination, quality reporting, and outcome measurement.
During this session, the speakers will discuss evidence-based strategies to prevent falls, reduce the risk of major injury, conduct meaningful post-fall investigations, strengthen care planning processes, and prepare for the evolving quality measurement landscape. Leave with actionable approaches to improve resident safety, support regulatory compliance, and enhance quality outcomes. Following this session, you’ll be able to:
- Summarize several evidence-based strategies to prevent falls and reduce injury risk in the nursing facility setting
- Describe best practices for post-fall assessment, investigation, and care plan revision
- Explain the anticipated impact of the new hybrid Falls with Major Injury Quality Measure on facility practices and quality reporting
11:35 am – 12:50 pm | 1.2 – How to Manage Your Quality Measures on a Daily Basis
Scott Heichel, RN, RAC-MT, RAC-CTA, DNS-CT, IPCO, QCP, ICC, Pathway Health
In today’s high-stakes healthcare environment, clinical leaders must execute strategic moves to drive quality outcomes in long-term care. During this dynamic session, you will explore how Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments fuel key quality measures and how clinical teams can apply an all-hands-on deck approach—leveraging data, teamwork, and leadership agility—to improve resident care and facility performance in both claims and MDS-based quality measures (QMs). Following this session, you’ll be able to:
- Explain how to interpret MDS-derived metrics
- Identify opportunities for proactive interventions
- Summarize how to implement leadership strategies that turn compliance into excellence
12:50 – 1:45 pm | Afternoon Break
1:45 – 3 pm | 1.3 – Work with Instead of Against Your Quality Measure Data
Carol Maher, RN, GERO-BC, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, CPC, Hansen Hunter
Quality measures (QMs) are not your enemy. When the MDS is coded accurately, QMs help clinical leaders identify opportunities to improve resident care. In this session, the speaker will cover the basics of determining which QMs should be the highest priority for your facility, such as those with higher percentiles or findings from a previous survey. Learn how to identify residents who have triggered QMs so you can develop person-centered clinical plans that improve their care. The speaker will also highlight several QMs that often raise survey concerns and will offer interventions to drive better outcomes. Following this session, you’ll be able to:
- Identify the advantage of knowing the SNF’s clinical opportunities for improvement
- Discuss how to investigate the opportunity and advantage of providing person-centered care planning
- State how your team can work together to improve care for one triggered quality measure
3:15 – 4:30 pm | 1.4 – The Administrator’s Role in Managing Quality Measures
Robin L. Hillier, LNHA, CPA, RAC-MT, RAC-CTA, RLH Consulting
The SNF administrator plays a central, accountable, and highly visible role in managing the organization’s quality measures (QMs). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations, quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) expectations, and leadership best practices all point to the administrator as the person who sets priorities, allocates resources, oversees data integrity, and drives continuing improvement across all departments. During this session, the speaker will walk you through the domains of the administrator’s role in quality improvement and QM management and how to be successful for better outcomes. Following this session, you’ll be able to:
- Describe the domains that make up the administrator’s role in quality improvement and managing QMs
- Articulate the variety of uses for QM data
- Explain how staffing, resource deployment, and workflows impact QMs
- Describe the importance of IDT training and accountability
Click through the buttons below for additional schedule information specific to each day of the AAPACN 2026 Quality Virtual Conference.