New ALF Core Trainer Requirements - To comply with new statutory requirements, the Department of Elder Affairs (DOEA) has proposed a rule amendment and the addition of two new rules addressing the adoption of a curriculum to be used as the minimum core training requirements, trainer registration requirements, and provider qualifications. Read more on this issue in the latest ALF Alert, ALF 07-01 dated 9/13/07.

Other ALF News:

• 2007-2008 AAHSA Assisted Living Salary & Benefits Survey

HCBS Development Cabinet to Explore Developing Services as Part of Care Continuum - AAHSA's new Home and Community-Based Services Development Cabinet, which begins meeting in October, is charged with developing a vision of how home and community-based services should be implemented in the future. The Cabinet's focus will be on how AAHSA members can develop free standing home and community-based services or services as part of the continuum of services within their existing organization. The vision will be built upon past and current research on home and community-based programs, as well as the experience of the AAHSA members. The Cabinet will meet four times in 2007- 2008.

Welcome New Members - Forty-eight new members, including individuals and affiliate members, have joined FAHSA since December 2007. FAHSA welcomes all of our new members, including the following new facility members:

District 3
Moosehaven, Inc., Retirement Community, Orange Park

District 4
Florida Lutheran Retirement Center, Deland
Luther Hall Apartments, South Daytona

District 5
The Reserve at Indian Hill, Orlando

District 9
Grove City Manor, Grove City
Sandpiper Run, Ft. Myers
Shady Rest Care Pavilion, Inc., Ft. Myers

We look forward to serving you!

Jacksonville Get Ready - Over 250 participants will converge on Jacksonville next week during FAHSA's Home and Community-Based, HUD Elderly Housing and Service Coordinator Workshops. It is not too late to attend - just register at the door. We look forward to seeing you next week.

Register Now for One of the QIS Trainings - Make plans to attend one of the FAHSA October Quality Indicator Survey (QIS) Training Workshops in West Palm Beach, Jacksonville or Orlando. The meetings will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST. Register online from the Events Calendar page of the FAHSA Web site or fax your registration to FAHSA at (850) 671-3790.

Upcoming Workshops:

• September 18 & 19 -- FAHSA's Home and Community-Based Services Workshop, Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk, Jacksonville
• September 19 & 20 -- FAHSA's Annual HUD and Service Coordinator Workshop, Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk, Jacksonville
• October 2 -- QIS Training, Joseph L. Morse Geriatric Center, West Palm Beach
• October 5 -- QIS Training, Fleet Landing, Jacksonville, FL
• October 9 & 10 -- Board of Trustees Meeting, Orlando, FL
• October 11 -- QIS Training, Orlando Lutheran Towers, Orlando, FL
• November 15 - FAHSA's Maintenance Workshop, Holiday Inn, Orlando, FL
• January 15 & 16, 2008 -- FAHSA's Dynamic Directions Advanced Nurse Leadership Workshop, Safety Harbor

Hospitals Embrace New Care Procedures for Pressure Ulcers - The Wall Street Journal reported last week that in an effort to prevent costly pressure ulcers and avoid nonpayments, hospitals are embracing new care procedures - including some that nursing homes have long employed. The article noted that long-term care providers "have made strides of their own in [pressure ulcer] prevention". Acute-care hospitals, however, have generally been less aggressive, despite strong evidence that prevention is effective. Nearly 15 percent of hospitalized patients may have pressure ulcers at any one time, according to statistics from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

FAHSA Mourns the Loss of Representative Mike Davis -- Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Representative Mike Davis who passed away from cancer yesterday. Last year, Rep. Davis sponsored the omnibus housing bill, HB 1363, and added our amendment to the bill that would offer discretion to Florida Housing Finance Corporation to provide forgivable loans through the Elderly Housing Community Loan (EHCL) program.

Byrd Institute to Open Headquarters with Budget Uncertainty - Set to open the doors of its new Tampa headquarters this weekend, the Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr., Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute faces the loss of $10-million of its $15-million state grant. The cut was recommended by DOEA in response to Governor Crist's order to find ways to trim its budget by up to 10 percent, or about $13-million. Of that total, $10-million in savings would come from a cut to the Byrd institute. According to the St. Pete Times, DOEA spokesman Frank Panela stated that "Direct services take priority over research." The only other programs receiving cuts under the DOEA plan are the Alzheimer's Waiver program and fixed capitol outlay for Florida's senior centers.

The Institute, the vision of controversial former House Speaker Johnnie Byrd of Plant City, has been criticized by key legislators for hiring lobbyists and a public relations firm and for Byrd's move to pack the Institute's original board of directors with political allies. The Institute's headquarters, located on the campus of the University of South Florida, has cost $33-million so far. It relies almost exclusively on the state for operating revenue. Major expenses for the year include $5.6-million for salaries and related expenses, $2.9-million for building operations, maintenance and equipment, and $2.2-million for grants. This year, the Center spent about $7-million of its $18-million annual budget on research. Hundreds of invitations have been extended to the public grand opening, scheduled for this Saturday.

More on Governor Crist's Budget-Balancing Plans - Reacting to the projected budget shortfall for the current fiscal year, the budget rebalancing plan released by the Governor's office last week proposed cuts of roughly $646 million in recurring general revenue, along with transfers of $337 million from trust funds to general revenue. The trust fund "raiding", as Florida TaxWatch put it, includes $84 million in environmental funding and $225 million in transportation funding. The governor also recommended increasing the general revenue "service charge" charged to trust funds to pay for governmental operating costs to 8 percent. Current rates range from 7.0 percent to 7.3 percent.

Governor Crist recommended increased spending to spur economic development. The plan calls for $75 million in nonrecurring cash reserves to be used for assistance to low-income and first-time homebuyers and $483 million for education construction projects (including $168 million from a fund earmarking high- growth school districts). Florida TaxWatch noted that the Governor is also asking the Department of Transportation to fast track the I-95 Express project and seaport improvements, and hopes to avoid deep cuts in K-12 education spending by using $120 million in available nonrecurring general revenue to maintain current per-student funding.

Florida TaxWatch has posted the spread sheet of proposed budget cuts and expenditures from the Governor's office online from their Web site. Please click on spreadsheet above to review the budget cuts.

National Risk Pool Bill Faces Opposition on Capitol Hill - A Florida-led bid to trim homeowners' insurance premiums by creating a national risk pool met with staunch opposition last week from the Bush administration and lawmakers from states who said they oppose subsidizing a beachfront lifestyle. The proposal, authored by Democratic Representatives Ron Klein of Boca Raton and Tim Mahoney of Palm Beach Gardens, would create a voluntary, market-driven national catastrophe fund designed to lower the cost of insuring homes in areas where the threat of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes can send premiums skyrocketing. It also would make federal loans available to assist in rebuilding areas hit by natural disasters.

The bill calls for the creation of a "risk consortium," which states voluntarily could join to pool the risk from state-sponsored insurance funds. The consortium would transfer the risk to private markets through the use of bonds or reinsurance contracts. Any savings realized from spreading the risk would have to be passed along to consumers in the form of lower premiums. A Senate bill that would create a commission to study a national catastrophe fund has the preliminary approval of the Senate Banking Committee, which is hoping to attach the measure to a larger bill that would reform the nation's flood insurance program.

CMS Presents Webcast: From Institutional to Individualized Care Part 4: The How of Change - What a difference management makes! - CMS will present a satellite broadcast on Friday, September 14, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. EDT, "From Institutional to Individualized Care Part 4: The How of Change- What a difference management makes!" This is mandatory for LTC surveyors. The goal of the programs is:

• To provide practical hands-on tips for implementing individualized care and evaluating compliance with OBRA in a changing nursing home landscape; and
• To generate discussion and energize collaboration and examination among state and regional surveyors, and others, about how to improve care by individualizing it, using quality improvement practices.

Documents are located at the CMS Survey and Certification Online Course Delivery System Web site.

CLIC K HERE if you require any assistance with any of the trainings and materials located at the Web site.

CMS Announces the Start of Participant Recruitment for Post Acute Care Payment Reform Demonstration - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS announced the recruitment for the Post Acute Care Payment Reform Demonstration (PAC-PRD). Participating providers include acute care hospitals and four post-acute care (PAC) settings:

1. Long-Term Care Hospitals (LTCHs);
2. Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs);
3. Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs): and
4. Home Health Agencies (HHAs).

A key goal of this project is to generate recommendations for improving CMS payment models based on data collected. At this point, CMS is attempting to recruit providers to participate in this data collection effort. Participation is voluntary. CMS does not plan waivers of payment rules for this project. CMS will attempt to recruit a sample that is representative of the range of post-acute service providers across the country.
Providers interested in potentially participating in the 2008 demonstration should E-mail Barbara Gage, Ph.D., Principal Investigator at RTI.

For more details, READ THE PRESS RELEASE. For the press release and more details, please go to:

NPPES Data & New Data Dissemination Training Module Now Available - The NPI Registry and the downloadable file are now available. View the Registry on the Web. Download the File on the Web.

Additionally, the final module in the NPI Training Package is now available. V IEW MODULE 4 (Data Dissemination) on the CMS Web site. This module describes the policy by which CMS will make certain NPPES data available, as well as the data CMS is disclosing.

As always, more information and education on the NPI can be found through the CMS NPI PAGE on the CMS Web site. Providers can APPLY FOR AN NPI online at or can call the NPI enumerator to request a paper application at 1-800-465-3203. Having trouble viewing any of the URLs in this message? If so, try to cut and paste any URL in this message into your Web browser to view the intended information.

FAHSA's Preferred Business Associates Program (PBAs) -- A list of PBAs can be found by on the FAHSA Web site www.fahsa.org and selecting Preferred Business Associates from the left side menu bar. FAHSA members can also use the on- line directory to search for PBAs by specialty.

FAHSA is pleased to provide an opportunity for you to advertise your "position wanted" or "position available" through the FAHSA Link newsletter and on our Web Page.

FAHSA members may use the Job Mart services at no charge. A nominal fee of $25 will be charged to nonmembers.

Your Job Mart advertisement will be displayed on our Web site for approximately three months. The FAHSA Link is published weekly and distributed to our membership which is comprised of nursing homes, CCRCs, HUD housing, assisted living facilities, independent living facilities and companies/firms.

To reserve advertisement space in our Job Mart program, please complete the application and fax it to FAHSA at (850) 671-3790 or E-mail Erin Steele at esteele@fahsa.org