• February 3, 2015, 6:15 PM
• Busboys & Poets
• 2021 14th Street NW, Washington DC, 20009
• Register on-line here

The program will be emceed by John Cavanagh, Director of the Institute for Policy Studies. Iona is co-sponsoring the event.

DC Update

• Adult Day Health Programs
  • Claudia Schlosberg, J.D. Acting Senior Deputy Director D.C. Department of Health Care Finance announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is on track to approve the 1915 (i) Medicaid State Plan Amendment that would reimburse Adult Day Health programs. They anticipate an April 1, 2015 effective date; however the D.C. Department of Health Care Finance would still have to publish the regulations that govern the Adult Day Health Programs.
• Age Friendly DC
  • On December 10, 2014, Mayor Vincent C. Gray released the Age-Friendly DC Strategic Plan 2014 – 2017, The plan identifies 77 strategies and names more than 70 partner agencies and organizations in- and outside government

National Update

• Department of Health and Human Services Announces Initiative for Value Based Reimbursement
  • Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sylvia M. Burwell announced a wide scale initiative to move Medicare reimbursement from volume based to value based reimbursement methodologies. This marks the first time that HHS has established goals and timelines to accelerate value based reimbursement. The initiative includes the creation of a Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network. The Network is designed to broaden the reach of the Medicare based initiative and foster the adoption of alternative value based payment models by private payers and States.
  • This new effort will be in addition to the Legislation passed by Congress in 2014 that already requires CMS to develop value-based purchasing for skilled nursing facilities. Additionally, last year’s Medicare “doc fix”, PL 113-93, requires CMS to create readmission and resource use measures for skilled nursing facilities. Medicare payments to SNFs will begin to reflect these measures as of October 1, 2018.
  • http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2015pres/01/20150126a.html
• Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2015
  • On Jan. 20, 2015, members of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee introduced the Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2015 (S. 192).
  • We strongly support this measure, and we hope LeadingAge members will contact their senators and ask them to cosponsor it.
  • Read More

Upcoming Events

Assisted Living Update
February, 2, 2015, 1:30pm,
LeadingAge Headquarters, 2519 Connecticut Ave, NW.

• Sharon Mebane, Program Manager, Intermediate Care Facilities, Health Regulations and Licensing Administration
• Steve Maag, Director of Residential Communities, LeadingAge will share updates regarding nationwide trends in assisted living.
• Members and Non-members welcome
• Register Here

Boards Shaping the Future – LeadingAge Maryland Governance Symposium
February 11, 2015, 8:30 am

• Hosted by Broadmead, 13801 York Road, Cockeysville, MD 21030
• $49 per LeadingAge Maryland and DC member
• Read More and Register Here

Involuntary Transfer and Discharge from Nursing Homes: Prevention, Advocacy, and Appeals: Part 2

2015 PEAK Leadership Summit

• More Information and Registration

LeadingAge DC Member Hill Visit to the Office of Congresswomen Holmes Norton
March 17, 2015, 12:00pm

• Please contact Christy Kramer at ckramer@leadingage.org to RSVP

Dementia in Affordable Housing: Awareness, Action, and Assistance
April, 27, 2015

• LeadingAge, 2519 Connecticut Avenue, NW
• 9 am – 12pm
• Agenda and registration information to come
  

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Leadership Education Program

• The Leadership Educator Program will roll out beginning in May. The 3-month program is intended to build a pool of skilled leadership educators within the LeadingAge membership. Two week-long retreats and two virtual meetings will be held from May – August 2015. Website
• Applications due by February 6, 2015

Governing for Strategic Success

• A new governance program led by renowned governance speaker and author Jamie Orlikoff will roll out this summer. The retreat will prepare boards for strategic planning discussions to help move forward in the rapidly changing aging services environment. Three two-day retreats will be offered in June, July and August in Denver, Philadelphia and Chicago. These retreats are for board chairs, chairs-elect and CEOs as well as full boards and leadership teams. Members can get more information and register on the LeadingAge Website.

Stay Tuned For…

• Peer Networking Sessions
• Peer Site Visits

Member Opportunities and Resources

Insights/Quality Metrics Update

LeadingAge Quality Metrics is a set of interactive data tools that assists nursing homes in analyzing how they measure up to their peers, demonstrate value, and improve performance. Leveraging Nursing Home Compare data, Quality Metrics allows nursing homes to compare themselves against nearby or comparably sized nursing homes. It also offers a tool to help predict Five-Star status and provide guidance on where to focus to increase their rating. Read More

New Home Health Tool: 2 Upcoming Webinars on Accessing Using

Home Health Quality Metrics is the latest addition to LeadingAge Insights and complements Nursing Home Quality Metrics, an interactive data tool that provides skilled nursing homes with the ability to analyze their 5-star ratings, staffing, quality measures and deficiencies.

Beginning this month, LeadingAge members now have access to Home Health Quality Metrics, an interactive benchmarking tool that uses Home Health Compare data to analyze process and outcome quality measures reported on the Home Health Compare website.

LeadingAge has scheduled 2 free 60 minute training sessions for members that provide home health to learn how to log in to the website, create groups and run various types of analyses:

• January 28, 2015, at 1 p.m.
• February 12, 2015, at 10 a.m.