CMS QSO Memo: Updates to Chapters 5 and 7 of the State Operations Manual (Revised)

Memo # QSO-26-03-NH REVISED Posting Date 2026-04-03 Fiscal Year 2026 Downloads AAPACN note: Some of the key revisions in red from the memo are excerpted below. There are a number of significant changes to the chapters themselves, including a number of new definitions. Enforcement Guidance: Revises policies for Civil Money Penalties (CMP) to …

FY 2027 SNF PPS Proposed Rule

Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities; Updates to the Quality Reporting Program for Federal Fiscal Year 2027 Filed on: 04/02/2026 at 5:15 pm Scheduled Pub. Date: 04/07/2026  PDF 114 Pages (397 KB)  Permalink Fact sheet Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System Proposed …

AAPACN Unveils New Strategic Vision to Elevate Post-Acute Care at 2026 Conference

Association highlights national award winners, CMS leadership insights, and workforce investment to advance post-acute care nationwide DENVER, CO, March 31, 2026 — The American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing (AAPACN®) convened hundreds of post-acute care nursing leaders, administrators, and clinical professionals from across the country for its 2026 Annual Conference …

Q&A: Should Z99.2, Dependence on renal dialysis, be coded when dialysis occurs outside the facility?

Question: A dialysis patient is going out of the facility for dialysis. We use the appropriate N18 code, but would Z99.2 be excluded since dialysis isn’t provided in-house? Answer from Carol Maher, RN, GERO-BC, RAC-MTA, RAC-MT, CPC: The resident remains your SNF’s resident while receiving dialysis. Coding should reflect the …

Q&A: Is a hairline fracture from a fall considered a major injury?

Question: If a resident has a fall that causes a hairline clavicle fracture, is that automatically considered a major injury? Answer from Carol Maher, RN, GERO-BC, RAC-MTA, RAC-MT, CPC:Yes, any traumatic fracture related to a fall is a fall with major injury—even a finger or toe. This AAPACN resource is …

NHSN Healthcare Personnel (HCP) Flu Vaccination Module for SNF QRP Reporting

The HCP Flu Vaccination Module, which is part of the HCP component in NHSN, is used to input required NHSN data for the SNF QRP. This site provides access to the HCP Vaccination Module: Influenza Vaccination Summary Protocol, which is the primary manual for the module. In addition, it provides …

Five-Star Drama: What NACs Need to Know About the Latest QM Changes

In this LTC NAC Chat podcast episode, Amy Stewart, MSN, RN, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, chief nursing officer for AAPACN, and Jessie McGill, RN, BSN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, senior curriculum development specialist for AAPACN, discuss recent Five-Star and quality measure changes. Additional Resources:

Long-Stay Antipsychotic Measure: Data Source and Look-Back Guide

The Long-Stay Antipsychotic Measure: Data Source and Look-Back Guide can be used by interdisciplinary teams to simplify the complex data sources and timeframes used in this measure. The tool clearly outlines numerator criteria and key exclusions, while identifying how MDS, pharmacy, and claims data contribute to calculation. Designed as a …

TIP: Antipsychotic Measure Update and Upcoming Five-Star Refresh

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an errata document for the MDS 3.0 QM User’s Manual, changing guidance regarding public reporting of the new long stay (LS) antipsychotic measure. CMS removed the instruction that the measure would begin public reporting using Q3 2025 data as the initial …