CMS created the Five-Star Quality Rating System to help consumers, their families, and caregivers compare nursing homes more easily. The Nursing Home Compare Web site features a quality rating system that gives each nursing home a rating of between 1 and 5 stars. Nursing homes with 5 stars are considered …
In this LTC NAC Chat podcast episode, AAPACN Chief Nursing Officer, Amy Stewart, MSN, RN, DNS-MT, QCP-MT, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, and Jessie McGill, RN, BSN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, and Jennifer LaBay, RN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, CRC, curriculum development specialists with AAPACN, discuss AAPACN’s advocacy efforts and how the association works to ensure the …
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Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment continues to grow, with more than half of all Medicare beneficiaries now receiving their coverage through an MA plan. But as enrollment has increased, so have concerns regarding coverage determinations in skilled nursing facilities …
Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio element. Section GG is one of the most challenging sections of the Minimum Data Set (MDS). The instructions alone span 36 pages in the Long-Term Care Facility Resident Assessment Instrument 3.0 User’s Manual (RAI User’s Manual). Complex task definitions, …
Question: If a resident falls because they were pushed or struck by another resident or object and sustains a fracture, should the fracture be coded as a major injury related to a fall? On page J-33 it states we would not count it as a fracture related to a fall …
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated its Skilled Nursing Facility 3-Day Rule Billing MLN booklet. While the basic qualifying stay requirements remain the same, the revised guidance includes an important update for facilities participating in certain Medicare payment models, such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and …
AAPACN’s GG Trivia Games are fun education tools to help nurse aides and other direct care staff understand the performance levels and functional tasks for section GG. The nurse assessment coordinator or delegate hosts the GG Trivia Game and direct care staff are the players. The GG Trivia Game comes …
Question: Should a Significant Change in Status Assessment (SCSA) be completed for a resident who develops two new venous stasis ulcers? Answer from Jennifer LaBay, RN, RAC-MT, RAC-MTA, CRC: What else has changed with this resident? The decline must impact more than one area of the resident’s health status, not …
Question: A resident has had a Stage 4 pressure ulcer for years. The provider is now documenting the wound as skin failure/Kennedy terminal ulcer. Is this appropriate, and should the ulcer no longer be coded as a pressure ulcer? Answer from Carol Maher, RN, GERO-BC, RAC-MTA, RAC-MT, CPC: This ulcer …
This document shows how to upload assessments, create and manage assessments, complete change requests, review Final Validation Reports (FVR), and use the Validation Utility Tool (VUT) in iQIES. Jun 24, 2026 From https://qtso.cms.gov/software/iqies/reference-manuals
