Creating Success in Long-Term Care
As LTC continues to suffer from the negative impacts of staffing issues, increased expenses, shrinking margins and more, providers must still put in effort to look internally and externally to address areas for improvements that yield real and significant positive impacts on their organizations.
Here are a few areas to consider.
The mandate stemming from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that there be an effective compliance and ethics program in place. Many providers already heavily burdened by substantial regulatory reporting and other operational issues often neglect significant components of a mandated comprehensive compliance program placing the organization at significant risk. Policies and procedures, training and education, lines of communication, designation of a compliance officer, internal standards enforcement, responses to needed corrective action, and more must be part of an overall, effective compliance program. Furthermore, OMIG compliance audits have already begun.
The Minimum Data Set (MDS) is responsible for care quality, reimbursement, and compliance in SNFs. However, MDS nursing shortages, the need for increased training and education of newer MDS staff, continued contract and agency spend and the significant October 1st changes to the MDS have all created a perfect storm where issues in care quality, compliance risk and less than optimized reimbursements are negatively impacting many LTC facilities. An MDS process that ensures timely and accurate MDS submissions is the goal to mitigate risk. Internal and external audits are the keys to identifying issues and implementing needed improvements.
The ERC is a beneficial payroll tax credit available to businesses partially suspended by the government orders or those that experienced a significant decline in gross receipts during the pandemic. The IRS recently announced that it will stop processing any new claims for the ERC through at least December 31, 2023. While this may increase claim processing times, if you have a solid claim with an audit file supporting eligibility, it can provide much needed financial relief. Providers are being made aware of ERC “mill shops” that have been part of ERC schemes that can put a provider at risk making it a necessity to look towards a trusted partner to help you ethically assess eligibility.
Healthcare is experiencing technology and information advances at such an incredible pace that it's often difficult for organizations to sift through it all. In LTC up to 30% of current technologies in place are either antiquated or simply unused by staff. To solve this issue, technologies and partnerships can be very beneficial to organizations. For example, PointClickCare (PCC) the industry leading cloud-based software company has many value- add services that they can offer organizations. Microscope, a referral partner with PCC can provide organizations with expert assistance to help drive implementation, effectiveness, utilization support and analytical insights to benchmark key metrics for success.
Workforce staffing solutions have a wide variety of technologies penetrating the market and most are designed for existing staffing management. But, for many organizations a more robust, comprehensive workforce staffing solution is needed. The ProFlex platform by Tallavera uses a tailored approach to reduce contingent labor cost (up to 30%), achieves a fully employed staffing model and achieves long term workforce stability. Whether you require a full- scale staffing solution or need some support and guidance as you develop your own existing internal staffing program ProFlex has a proven track record of success
Microscope has the finance, operations, and clinical expertise ready to guide your organization towards success and sustainability. Our commitment to seeking out innovative products, services and beneficial partnerships for organizational success is unmatched in an industry that needs all the help it can get. Contact us at Microscope today to learn more.
Michel F. Masse, OTR/L - Senior Director, Long-Term Continuing Care
