CMS; Regs & Rules

[Pennie 26]

Source: An open letter to those in the Activities Profession, from Bill Freiberg, Publisher, Current Activities.

I read this letter from Bill. & hop ehe does not mind that I am sharing this with everyone, as I feel it is important for all of us AD's. He is talking about the regs. & the changes that have or have not taken place 1 year ago this June. It

seems that some AD's were saying that they haven't really seen a change as far as survey's go &/or that even when they try to make changes they don't have the help from Admin, staff etc. Bill attened a seminar in Tampa, FL & spoke to some of the CMS people, here is some of the things he had in his letter:

Bills say: I spoke to CMS regulators themselves, in person, at the recent SORIM/LTC seminar in Tampa. This stands for “Symposium on Regulatory Issues for Management in Longterm Care.” Several top regulators from CMS were there to explain all these new rules and regulations… in person

Congress is demanding it, they’re a basic part of the Code of Federal Regulations… and we fully intend to enforce them!

“This is a new era of “Culture Change” for the nursing home industry, and everyone better get used to it!” And, she told me that she didn’t have any idea why there hasn’t been a bigger reaction in the Activities profession… that everyone should be taking all this very seriously, indeed.

Not only that, but regulators there told of a new computerized survey system that will eventually be instigated in all states, that will require strick enforcement of all these new rules, and will equalize surveys and enforcement among all the states.

We heard this message over and over again at this 2-day meeting… in both prepared speeches, and personal conversations. (And they even mentioned the possibilities of increased civil penalties for homes not in compliance. They’re really serious, this time!)

So, folks, unless the CMS is running one of the biggest bureaucratic con-games I’ve ever seen in my journalistic career…

And, as the result, we think the Activities profession could well become one of the most important in the longterm, geriatrics care industry, as it will be at the center of the new culture change, quality-of-life factors that the CMS is instigating.

He goes on to mention that Instructors should be teaching this in the courses getting AD's ready for the future otherwise the instructors who are not maybe eventually become irrelevant.

For you nursing home administrators who are already incorporating many of these new guidelines and regs into your activities programming… that’s great. You’re elders must be very happy to be in a home like that! For those of you who are not doing this… and still treating your ADs and their program with a “second-class attitude” well… you may well find yourself in real danger of not surviving in the years ahead. you WILL need to know how to do “effective therapeutic activities” in the future!

I think what he is saying is of great value to our profession. All of AD'should be focusing on getting educated, sharing articles like this with everyone in the LTC Industry & being prepared. I have always belived that AD's are a very important part of the facility & can fill a nursing home, retirement home, A L Facility etc. up with residents by what we offer the resident's. All of us AD's need to be sure that we are or getting certified, keeping our CEU's up to date & attending as many seminars as possible that will enhance our education.

What is some of your thoughts/in put on this subject? Where do you see our profession going?