The Academy of Senior Health Sciences, Inc. (formerly The Ohio Academy of Nursing Homes, Inc.) represents the interests of long-term care providers. Our membership represents a true cross-section of the skilled nursing facility profession, from small sole proprietorships to larger Ohio-based multi-facility companies, as well as those businesses that service our membership. The Academy brings the collective influences of the members together into a single voice on vital issues affecting our profession.

What's New: February 3, 2012

Can YOUR facility survive the Quality Measures?  — Will your facility lose $16.44 per Medicaid bed/per day starting April 1? It will if you don’t meet at least five of the 16 quality measures. The Academy is here to help with "Surviving the NEW Quality Measures." This new course will be taught by a variety of experts, including current administrators, and will give you the tools you need to be ready by April 1. This flexible course will offer up to (7) seven BENHA and SW CEUs in two segments. "Surviving the NEW Quality Measures" will be held on Tuesday, March 6 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Quest Conference Center, 8405 Pulsar Place #100, Columbus, OH 43240-4043. The first half of the day will explain what you can do TODAY to ensure your facility will meet at least five of the 16 new quality measures. The second half of the day will explain ways you can continue to meet certain areas of the measures going forward and changes to managed care that could affect your reimbursement. You can attend either Part I or Part II for $109 or both parts for $149. Registration for this course is available online. For more information, please contact Ohio CEUs. Help shape a 2012 convention!  — The Academy of Senior Health Sciences is considering having a small convention this fall in Columbus. We need your input on this event to determine topics, social events and length. This is your opportunity to shape your event, so take advantage! Please take a few minutes to complete a short survey by going to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N3TSBJY. ODH releases latest quarterly NH quality report  —  The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) released the latest quarterly nursing home quality tracking report this week. The report presents the quality indicators for the fourth quarter of 2011. The previous report created some noise when there was a spike in immediate jeopardizes (IJs) and deficiencies greater than G-level. The administration came under questioning about the increase in those quality measures being related to the recent reimbursement cuts. The latest report shows many of the indicators, including the IJs and G-level deficiencies, returning closer to previous trends. While this may be because of providers adjusting their operations to the new funding levels, the full impact of the reductions is probably still not appearing in the indicators. Providers will continue to feel budgetary pressures as they have to pay the franchise permit fee and face rising costs. One of the more interesting facets of the report is a decreasing trend in specialty units, especially for Alzheimer’s. Ohio does not require any special certification or licensure for specialty units, so as of now it is unknown why there is a decrease. The report does note that the decrease in specialty units has not caused any access problems, but the report does not discuss how "access" is being tracked. The Academy will continue to follow this closely. For more information, please contact Chris Murray. Click Here to read The Academy Weekly in PDF format