Over the last few years, nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) are being hired with less long-term care experience, being paid more, and facing a multitude of challenges including stress and burnout, staffing shortages, and increased workloads. The 2023 AAPACN NAC Work Study and Salary Report received responses from 632 NACs. The …
Section GG, Functional Abilities and Goals, will expand to all OBRA assessments starting Oct. 1, 2023, with the retirement of the section G activities of daily living (ADL) items. This change disrupts the long-standing practices and policies facilities have developed to capture episode-level-of-care information from nurse aides on the section …
Several new items added or revised on the Minimum Data Set (MDS) this October are considered social determinants of health (SDOHs): ethnicity, race, language, transportation, health literacy, and social isolation. SDOHs are nonmedical factors that can affect health outcomes. On the MDS, these items are collected directly from the resident. …
The American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing (AAPACN) team collaborated with its members and post-acute care experts to advocate for skilled nursing facility (SNF) professionals by making comments on the fiscal year (FY) 2024 SNF Prospective Payment System (PPS) Proposed Rule. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued …
The draft Long-Term Care Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) 3.0 User’s Manual v1.18.11, released in early April, presents revised care area triggers (CATs) in chapter 4 and care area assessment (CAA) worksheets in appendix C. To prepare for the implementation of the RAI changes coming this October, nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) …
Restorative nursing programs are effective interventions to maintain or improve a resident’s independence in tasks of daily living. According to the Long-Term Care Facility Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) 3.0 User’s Manual, on page O-42, “Restorative nursing program refers to nursing interventions that promote the resident’s ability to adapt and adjust …
When a Medicare beneficiary is admitted to a skilled nursing facility (SNF), there are specific requirements that the resident must meet for the facility to bill Medicare for the services provided. The physician must certify that the skilled care in the SNF is necessary; the resident must have Medicare benefit …
The nurse assessment coordinator (NAC) is responsible for coordinating the completion of the MDS assessment, a process which depends on the interdisciplinary team (IDT) supplying documentation to support MDS coding. While the IDT’s role in generating this documentation is crucial, the NAC can bolster their efforts by utilizing observation and …
When an MDS has been signed as complete, grouped into a batch, and submitted to the national repository, the nurse assessment coordinator (NAC) still is not yet done with managing that assessment. The last crucial step in the process is validating that the assessment was accepted in the database without …
A tall glass of crystal-clear water is very refreshing. But water that is murky, has particles floating around, or a mineral odor isn’t appealing – and may be dangerous. The source of the water is often the key to its clarity and taste. The source must be well-maintained and managed …
