Assisted Living Policy Update

November 6, 2009

TWO NEW TRANSMITTALS RELEASED BY OHCQ

OHCQ has released two memos affected assisted living operations.  The memos are below for your review.

• TRANSMITTAL:  Regulatory Standards for Physician Documentation:  This transmittals articulates several documentation practices involving physicians that have been found during surveys of health care facilities.  For assisted living, the issue highlighted in the memo is a physician signing blank order forms and then a medication technician filling in the orders and faxing to the pharmacy independently and without consultation with the physician and delegating nurse.  (October 19, 2009). 
• HOLIDAY DECORATIONS MEMO:  This annual memo provides guidance to the use of holiday decorations in communities, including the use of live, fresh cut trees.  Please note that the memo only lists nursing homes, but the body of the memo does speak to assisted living communities as well.  (November 3, 2009).

DELAYS IN CERTIFICATION/RENEWALS OF MEDICATION TECHNICIANS 

At our Assisted Living Cafes this week, a recurring issue discussed was the delays being experienced by providers in obtaining initial certification and renewals of medication technicians from the Board of Nursing.  LifeSpan will be sending a survey to all members early next week to collect information on the backlog of applications currently being experienced by providers.  With this information, LifeSpan will request an action plan from the Board of Nursing for addressing the backlog and rectifying the process.  Please be on the look out for this survey.

Additional Cafes are listed below: 

Date	Time	County	Location
11/10/09	8-9:30   AM	Western MD   Counties	Starbucks - Stone House Square 12810 Shank Farm Lane Hagerstown  21742
11/11/09	8-9:30 AM	Carroll	Westminster Panera 200 Clifton Boulevard Westminster 21157
11/12/09	8:9:30 AM	Harford	Bel Air Panera 5 Bel Air South Parkway Bel Air 21015
11/18/09	8-9:30 AM	Howard	Dobbin Center Panera 6435 Dobbin Road Columbia 21045

 

LIFESPAN DEVELOPS EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND DISASTER PLANNING CHECKLIST

With the assistance of members, LifeSpan has released an Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Checklist to assist our members in reviewing their plans and preparing for surveys. Remember, as of August 2009, all communities must have an emergency and disaster plan in place in accordance with Section .46 of the regulations.  The checklist can be found on the LifeSpan website.  This is only one of several tools that providers can use in evaluating their operations.  Other tools include a Document Survey Checklist, a sample resident rights document, approved emergency preparedness forms, etc.  There is also links to the OHCQ training chart, uniform disclosure form and other documents.  Make sure to check it out!  Click Here.  Remember, member log-in is "quality".

 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR MEMBERSHIP