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CMS Releases New Course for SNF Providers

CMS Releases New Course for SNF Providers

CMS SNF CourseBETHESDA, MD – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new web-based training course that provides an overview of the assessment and coding the items in Section K related to height, weight, and nutritional approaches for skilled nursing facility residents. The on-demand, 30-minute course includes interactive exercises to test skilled nursing facility providers’ knowledge related to the assessment and coding of K0200: Height and Weight and K0510: Nutritional Approaches.

The new training was developed as part of the Post-Acute Care (PAC) Training contract, which assesses training needs, develops training materials, delivers training to providers and stakeholders, and evaluates the outcome of the trainings for changes and clarification needed due to the passing of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT Act). The primary goal of the project is to deliver relevant, accurate, and engaging training to assist providers in complying with coding and data submission requirements associated with quality reporting programs (QRPs) for the skilled nursing facility, long-term care hospital, inpatient rehabilitation facility, home health agency, and hospice care settings..

The latest training can be found through the CMS’ skilled nursing facility QRP training web page.

If you have questions about accessing the course or feedback regarding the training, please email the PAC Training mailbox at PACTraining@EconometricaInc.com. Content-related questions should be submitted to the SNF QRP Help Desk at SNFQualityQuestions@cms.hhs.gov.

About Econometrica

Founded in 1998, Econometrica is a research and management organization in Bethesda, MD, established to provide public- and private-sector clients with customized program support services. Econometrica works with multiple agencies to provide high-quality, cost-effective analyses, modeling, and economic evaluations. The company consistently receives exceptional scores from its clients and believes in three principles: technical capabilities, happy customers, and business development.

 

The new training was developed as part of the Post-Acute Care (PAC) Training contract, which assesses training needs, develops training materials, delivers training to providers and stakeholders, and evaluates the outcome of the trainings for changes and clarification needed due to the passing of the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT Act).

Econometrica’s Health Group Expands Clinical Expertise

Econometrica’s Health Group Expands Clinical Expertise

Health Group website pageEconometrica’s Health Group has further expanded its knowledge base and team of clinical experts. Through our recruiting and continuing education initiatives, our team stands ready to offer a wide range of expertise to organizations and agencies in the public and private sectors.

Health Group staff members understand medical coding related to Current Procedural Technology (CPT); the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM); and the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS), Level II, which are the three main code sets used to bill Medicare claims. Our staff members can identify the purpose and applicability of these code sets and explain how to use each one when assigning diagnoses and coding procedures across a wide variety of patient services in various settings.

Accurately coding patient services is critical to ensuring the best quality and efficacy of care for all Medicare beneficiaries. Econometrica staff members can support the understanding and accurate application of ICD-10-CM coding guidelines. We can describe the major features of the codes that are part of Level II HCPCS and identify and explain the information contained in the appendixes of the CPT code set. Econometrica has further experience with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Evaluation and Management (E/M) Services Guide, and our staff members can clarify the determination of E/M services levels. We are experienced in the practical application of coding operative reports and E/M services.

For example, Econometrica staff works to inform our Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Advanced project participants about how codes work for the quality measure documentation, ensuring we are comprehensive in our methodology and instructions to registries.

Our Health Group is well equipped to assist organizations supporting Medicare beneficiaries with a wide range of expertise among our staff members. To learn more about the Health Group and our services, clients, and capabilities, visit our Health Group page on the Econometrica website.

About Econometrica

Founded in 1998, Econometrica is a research and management organization in Bethesda, MD, established to provide public- and private-sector clients with customized program support services. Econometrica works with multiple agencies to provide high-quality, cost-effective analyses, modeling, and economic evaluations. The company consistently receives exceptional scores from its clients and believes in three principles: technical capabilities, happy customers, and business development.

Our Health Group is well equipped to assist organizations supporting Medicare beneficiaries with a wide range of expertise among our staff members.

Econometrica Supports HUD Toolkit Responding to Education Challenges From COVID-19

COVID-19 has impacted the nation in many ways, including children’s education. As schools get set to reopen this fall, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released a toolkit aimed at strengthening families and students living in HUD-assisted housing during the pandemic.

From August 2020 to March 2021, Econometrica supported HUD in a series of COVID-19 education peer exchanges. A key outcome from this series is Supporting Our Kids’ Education: Tools to Strengthen Resident Families & Students During COVID-19 & Beyond, a toolkit for public housing agencies and their community partners that responds to the educational challenges experienced by families and children during the pandemic.

The toolkit was developed by HUD’s Office of Choice Neighborhoods in partnership with grantees and expert consultants from Econometrica to provide case studies, ready-to-use family flyers, and a wealth of evidence-based resource links. Topics include:

  • Addressing learning loss.
  • Strengthening families’ ability to support their children’s learning.
  • Developing high-quality out-of-school time programming and tutoring.
  • Establishing learning hubs.

The toolkit highlights open source, research-based tools and resources as well as promising practice case studies that equip housing authorities and their partners to provide targeted educational services and strengthen the ability of families to support their children’s learning.

HUD focused on education because “COVID-19 has exacerbated the stark disparities between low-income housing residents and their higher-income peers.”

“With remote and hybrid learning, children living in public housing and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-assisted housing often face a variety of hurdles, from increased food insecurity and spotty internet service to challenges with student engagement and disruptions in specialized education supports.”

“With remote and hybrid learning, children living in public housing and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-assisted housing often face a variety of hurdles, from increased food insecurity and spotty internet service to challenges with student engagement and disruptions in specialized education supports.”

Audiograms: A New Solution to Your Video Needs

Audiogram Graphic Ephraim RossEconometrica supports our clients by helping them select the best learning solution to convey their content. We work hard to stay at the cutting edge of content delivery, learning and employing new technologies to meet the needs of our clients and audiences. We are currently employing a new training delivery modality called Audiograms for one of our newest projects.This article outlines why Audiograms are useful to our clients and audiences and how you can use them in the future.

Why We Discovered Audiograms

While designing a training for international public health practitioners, we identified that telling authentic field-based stories would be most impactful to our international audience. We also discovered that the international subject matter experts our client wanted to showcase via video did not have the internet bandwidth to record a high-quality video. In the past, our solution would have included going onsite to record videos. Given the pandemic and the geographic dispersion of the experts, though, that solution was not feasible.

Instead, we explored products and communication strategies that would allow our subject matter experts to share their story in a compelling way within the limitations of their technology. And we determined that Audiograms were the best solution for our client.

What is an Audiogram?
Audiograms are audio files that are combined with simple visual content and live captions.

Check out this audiogram below to understand more about the new modality.

How to Use Audiograms in Your Own Work 

Audiograms are ideal for short-form, standalone content, such as:

  • Audio presentations
  • Interviews
  • Conversations
  • Panels

Audiograms are also great item to embed within a longer training to break up and diversify the types of content. They are easy to share directly through social media—a medium that many organizations have found to be the simplest way to communicate with their audience.

Our clients have told us that Audiograms have a uniquely modern look and feel to them, and they are an excellent solution for experts who are trusted sources of information but do not wish to appear on camera or are remote. Other advantages of using Audiograms include:

Production advantages:

  • Quick and easy to produce high-quality content.
  • Cost-effective production mechanism.
  • Seamless edits and transitions (which is not possible when using a video of a presenter talking).
  • Can include additional media (images, animations).
  • Easy to create custom-branded templates for your project or brand.

Audience advantages:

  • Accessible content with live transcripts/captions.
  • Appropriate media to use for a low-bandwidth audience.
  • Can easily be shared on social media (can post video directly to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.).

Let us know if you are interested in learning more!


Stuck on a training challenge? Give us a call! Creative learning solutions (whether big or small) are our specialty.

Sarah Gillam, M.Ed.
Senior Instructional Designer
SGillam@EconometricaInc.com

CMS Releases Updated Look at COVID-19’s Impact on the Medicare Population

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released a snapshot of the impact COVID-19 has had on the Medicare population. The monthly update, released June 30, shows there were more than 4.3 million COVID-19 cases among the Medicare population and more than 1.2 million COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Data in the snapshot covers the period January 1, 2020, to April 24, 2021.

A factsheet and additional information can be fund at:

Work With Us, Work for Us

Econometrica specializes in research and management across numerous industries in both the public and private sectors. We are always looking to hire the best and brightest in data science, health, grants management, energy, homeland security, housing and community development, capital markets and finance, and transportation. We work as the lead service provider, and also as a capable outsource partner to other consultancies. To work with us on your next project, visit us online and email a member of our executive staff in your preferred specialty. To explore the benefits of working for us, visit our careers page.