— The next enrollment training for entities interested in becoming a Financial Management Services Agency will be held October 16-18, 2013 at the William B. Travis State Office Building, Room 1-111, 1701 Congress Ave., Austin, Room 1-111. See the DADS page for more information.
— DADS reminded providers that a mandatory upgrade to the CMSNet Juniper Client will begin for western states, which includes Texas, on August 31, 2013. The CMSNet page has more information.
— DADS will hold a provider meeting for HCSSA to encourage open communication between providers and DADS staff. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 8, 2013, from 1-4 p.m. at the United Way of Greater Houston, Auditorium, 50 Waugh Drive, Houston. You may register here.
— The HCS Quality Assurance Rule Revisions webinar will be held on Monday, September 9, 2013, 11 a.m. – noon. You may register here.
— DADS will hold a CLASS Provider Training on September 18-19, 2013, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Austin. You may register here.
— CMS posted the final MDS Item Sets, their data specifications, and the final Resource Utilization Group IV specifications here.
— The legislature requires DADS and the Board of Nursing to conduct a pilot program to evaluate LVNs who provide on-call services by telephone to individuals receiving services for HSC, TxHmL, or ICF/IID with a capacity of 13 or fewer beds. As part of the evaluation, DADS and the BON ask the providers, administrators, registered nurses, and other professional staff who chose to NOT participate in the program to complete a brief anonymous survey regarding their reason(s) for not participating.
— DADS seeks input in planning the 2013-2014 Positive Behavior Management Workshops. You may fill out a brief survey here.
— DADS is revising 40 TAC Chapter 49, Contracting for Community Services, to incorporate uniform rules for contract application, implementation, monitoring, and enforcement into one chapter.
- Click here to view the draft proposed changes to 40 TAC, Chapter 41
- Click here to view the draft proposed changes to 40 TAC, Chapter 43
— TMF Health Quality Institute and DADS, in collaboration with the Texas Health Care Association and LeadingAge, invite providers to attend free educational sessions in October 2013, focused on the national initiative to improve dementia care in nursing homes. Additional information (PDF).
— The State Supported Living Centers division invites comments on draft revised policy #018, Most Integrated Setting Practices (PDF).
See the news page for more information about these and other alerts.
