Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long-Term Care Open Door Forum

**Updated September 14, 2012 – Please see the Downloads section below for important ACA 3004: Long Term Care Hospital Announcements for details pertaining to this important update information:
• The CMS LASER (LTCH Assessment Submission Entry Reporting) software is now posted on the QIES Technical Support Office Website: www.qtso.com.
• LASER is also undergoing its posting on the CMS website
• CMS has made available the last two new recorded training sessions for LTCHs on the QIES Technical Support Office (QTSO) website (www.qtso.com):
1. The LTCH Assessment Submission Process
2. CASPER Reports for LTCHs
• This completes the posting of all webex trainings pertaining to LTCH CARE Data Submission and LASER.
• An Errata Document Titled LTCH QRP Manual Errata Sheet-Sept 2012, has been posted.
• The slides used during the August 30, 2012 LTCH Special Open Door Forum (SODF) where Section M of the LTCH QRP Manual was reviewed, as well as FAQs submitted to the LTCH QRP help desk mailbox are now posted
• The next LTCH SODF will be held on Thursday, September 20, 2012 from 2:30pm – 4:00pm.
**Updated September 13, 2012 - The transcript & audio file for the August 30, 2012 Special Open Door Forum for Long-Term Care Hospital Quality Reporting is now available on the Special Open Door Forum Page in the Downloads section: http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/OpenDoorForums/ODFSpecialODF.html .
**Updated September 10, 2012 - CMS has made available two new recorded training sessions for IRFs on the QIES Technical Support Office (QTSO) website. The sessions are as follows:
1. IRF-PAI Assessment Submission Process – provides the necessary instructions for submitting IRF-PAI assessment data to the ASAP IRF-PAI Submission System beginning October 1, 2012.
2. CASPER Reports for IRFs – provides information about accessing and interpreting the ASAP system-generated IRF-PAI Facility Final Validation Report, identifies other reports available to IRFs and gives an overview of the basic functionality of the CASPER Reporting application.
• The recordings can be accessed via the e-University page on the QTSO website at https://www.qtso.com/webex/qiesclasses.php .
• Please contact the QTSO Help Desk at (800) 339-9313 or help@qtso.com if you have questions regarding this training session.
**Updated September 5, 2012 - The slides for the Manual Medical Review of Therapy Claims Special Open Door Forum are now available in the Downloads section below. If you wish to participate, dial: 1-877-251-0301; Conference ID: 23782155.
**Updated August 31, 2012 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold a Special Open Door Forum on the Manual Medical Review of Therapy Claims on September 5, 2012, from 2:00pm-3:30pm, ET. If you wish to participate, dial: 1-877-251-0301; Conference ID: 23782155. Please see the Downloads section below for the announcement with full participation instructions.
**Updated March 30, 2012 - A new clarification memo has been posted to the SNF PPS website. This memo is intended to provide clarification of a number of questions that we have received on various SNF policies as well as introduce a new policy, effective April 1, 2012, for handling interviews on unscheduled PPS assessments. The memo may be accessed through the following link: http://www.cms.gov/SNFPPS/Downloads/SNF-Clarification-Memo-20120308.pdf.
**Updated March 14, 2012 - The Draft LTCH CARE Data Set Version 1.00.1 Specifications for October, 2012 are now posted. A Specification Change document identifying changes since Draft Version 1.00.0 is included in the .zip file. Final specifications will be posted in the near future. The specifications can be found on the CMS web page:
http://www.cms.gov/LTCH-Quality-Reporting/ . Specifically, please see the Downloads Section of that web page. The .zip file containing the updated "Draft" LTCH CARE Data Submission Specifications (v1.00.1) is located there.
See Submission Specifications (v1.00.1) The files within this .zip are:
 LTCH Data Submission Spec Changes (v1.00.1) 20120305.pdf
 LTCH 1.0 data specs overview (v1.00.1) DRAFT 20120305.pdf
 LTCH data dictionary (v1.00.1) DRAFT 20120305.zip
 LTCH data specs CSV files (v1.00.1) DRAFT 20120305.zip
 LTCH data specs HTML files (v1.00.1) DRAFT 20120305.zip
 LTCH data specs PDF files (v1.00.1) DRAFT 20120305.zip
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Skilled Nursing Facilities/Long Term Care Open Door Forum (ODF) Overview:
The Skilled Nursing Facilities / Long-Term Care Open Door Forum (ODF) addresses the concerns and issues of both the Medicare SNF, the Medicaid NF, and the nursing home industry generally. The types of issues that come up during this forum are often related to the Minimum Data Set, SNF Consolidated Billing, the roles and responsibilities of different SNF, NF or LTC professional staff under CMS regulations, clarifications of issues that are covered during a survey and certification process, and the many rules and requirements under which different related services can be payable. Timely announcements and clarifications regarding important rulemaking, quality program initiatives, and other related areas are also included in the forums.