Author: Karen Harden

Friday, September 7, 2018    Wisconsin’s long-term care providers were successful last year with having our state elected officials take notice of the caregiver shortage crisis and the need for greater funding in Wisconsin’s long-term care program, Family Care. While providers are thankful for the Direct Care Workforce funding increases included in the 2017-19 state budget, those increases do not offset the rate cuts or freezes that providers have experienced over the past five years. Therefore, Wisconsin’s long-term care provider community (including WALA) is asking the Legislature to invest $61.7 million in the upcoming (2019-21) biennial budget (please see attached). This request includes the funding increases provided in the 2017-19 state budget along with an additional $61.7 million. If our request is approved, it would allow financial stability for providers to increase caregiver wages. WALA is actively advocating on your behalf and we will keep you posted on these efforts.  If you have any questions, please let us know. For more details, read PDF below.  PDF of this Request

News & Press: Regulatory

DHS Identifies Supervision As a Growing Problem in AL Facilities
Sunday, August 19, 2018 (0 Comments)
Posted by: Sarah Bass

From Forbes McIntosh, Government Policy Solutions, WALA Lobbyist

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Division of Quality Assurance Bureau of Assisted Living has seen an increasing number of program services violations by assisted living facilities in the area of lack of supervision, specifically related to elopements and sexual assaults, BAL Director Alfred Johnson said during last week’s Assisted Living Forum in Madison.

He said sexual assault reports most often are resident-on-resident and should be reported to police for criminal investigation first.

A survey of the facility might then be conducted by DHS surveyors – and Johnson reviewed the DHS survey process with Assisted Living Forum participants. During a survey, assisted living surveyors evaluate a facility’s performance and compliance with applicable laws and standards in the areas of resident rights, program services, nutrition and food service, physical environment and safety, medication, and staff training.

The survey visits might be unannounced/unscheduled and would include a meeting with staff in charge and a sampling of residents, conducting a tour of the facility, interviewing family members, reviewing records and reviewing safety code compliance, among other things.

Johnson said DHS staff will not conduct a review or survey of a facility without a specific complaint. For example, if a resident’s family member from out of state calls DHS to say their parent does not seem to be doing well and the facility might be to blame, that is not specific enough to prompt an investigation by DHS.

Johnson did note that the majority of complaints filed against AL facilities come from resident family members.

One forum participant shared that in her experience, a facility can reduce the number of complaints filed just by communicating more with residents and their family members, especially in a proactive manner. She said she occasionally reaches out to family members via phone just to check in to see how things are going for their loved one at the facility and it has made a difference in reducing conflicts.

From DHS, Division of Quality Assurance

 The Department of Health Services, Division of Quality Assurance (DQA) has revised the Background Information Disclosure (BID) form F-82064. License applicants, employees, contractors and non-client residents must complete the BID form as part of the required caregiver background check process.  

From DHS, DQA, Office of Caregiver Quality The following resources have been developed for use by facilities to raise awareness among staff in order to prevent occurrences of caregiver misconduct through the use of handheld devices: Social Media Awareness Poster – Snapping Pics Puts Your Job at Risk, P-01964 (PDF) – DHS recommends facilities place this poster in a location that is designated for employees only, such as an employee break room. Social Media Awareness – Snapping Pics Puts Your Job at Risk, P-01933 (PDF) – DHS recommends facilities distribute this brochure to new and existing employees (e.g., upon new employee hire, during annual refresher trainings on abuse/neglect). Snapping Pics Puts Your Job At Risk (Livestream, help) –This video depicts a scenario of a caregiver who is contemplating taking a picture of a peacefully sleeping resident to share with her co-worker. It highlights the potential consequences of this action, including being suspended from her job and being placed on the Caregiver Misconduct Registry. Animated Infographic (Livestream, help) –This two minute informational video highlights what happens when a possible incident of caregiver misconduct occurs. DHS recommends this video be used as a follow up to the Snapping Pics Puts Your Job At Risk video. Read More

 

WALA has heard from some of membership that the MCOs are starting to send out the Family Care Direct Care Workforce payments. These are the first quarter’s payments from the $60.8 Million we advocated for in the 2017-2019 Wisconsin State budget. These payments may come in check form with little information attached – so please watch your mailboxes over the next few weeks. Each MCO seems to be handling the payments differently. Providers making calculations have stated that the checks roughly 4% of the reimbursement amount from Family Care. Please make sure that you are accurately documenting how these funds have been disbursed (wage increases, bonuses, PTO, or payroll taxes) and to whom they were given. Although aggregate amounts are needed for the attestation (link below) more detail should be internally documented in case an audit happens in the future. The quarter 1 provider attestation and survey site is now live at the following site: https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4434875/Quarter-1-Direct-Care-Workforce-Attestation-Report FAQs about the process is also available at https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/medicaid/ltc-workforce-funding-faq.htm