Breakout A: The Intersection of Medical, Legal, Occupational Health, and Employee Records (Stephanie Eckerle & Amy Adolay) 

In this session, we will review a variety of human resource topics including ensuring the healthcare employers understand when the legal limits of using and disclosing employee medical information. This will include a review of applicable regulations and case law, such as the ADA regulations, OSHA regulations, EEOC guidance, and issues involving special types of records such as EAP and wellness records. And, ensuring that healthcare providers understand the most recent laws applicable to the protection of patient records. This will include a focus on ONC’s new Information Blocking Rules, recent HIPAA enforcement actions by OCR, and Indiana’s state laws on security and privacy requirements. And finally, after reviewing the relevant regulations and case examples, we will highlight best practices for healthcare providers to ensure that they are securing, retaining, and implementing appropriate privacy policies for the numerous types of records that healthcare providers encounter.  

Breakout B: Pharmacogenetics: How a patient’s genetic profile can guide treatment (Jerome Nypaver) 

Pharmacogenetics or Pharmacogenomics (PGx) is the field of study and research that investigates how an individual’s unique genes affect how that person will respond to certain medications. Our genes not only determine our eye color, hair color, and other unique traits about us, but they play a vital role in how each individual person responds to specific medications. The long-term goal being to aid doctors in selecting the right drug, at the right dose the first time. The test eliminates the need for trial and error of medications and can reduce adverse drug reactions. The FDA monitors drug safety and has over 200 medications that have pharmacogenetic information and guidelines.

The aim of Patients Choice Laboratories has always been to innovate, and the PCL PGx test does that. With key partnerships throughout the United States, PCL is revolutionizing how PGx tests are run, investigating new medications on the market, and redefining how every person’s healthcare plan is their own.

The overall learning objectives of the discussion will be:

• What is Pharmacogenetics?
• Discuss cost-savings and better patient quality of life due to PGx.
• Discuss key genes on the PGx test that provide the most information and how that helps your patients.

Breakout C: Census Development, Payers, and Retention (William Hartung) 

In this session, the presenter will review the following learning objectives:

1. How to work with preferred networks including acute care hospitals, Accountable Care Organizations, and payors that can provide referrals
2. How to gather quality and financial metrics for referral partners
3. Identifying pros and cons in managed care and Medicare Advantage relationships
4. How to retain census through readmission reduction and I-SNPs (Institutional Special Needs Plans)
5. How to develop clinical programs to address referral partner needs

Long Term ReVITALization for Work & Life (Stephanie Staples) 

Are you trying to be all things to all people? 

Are you who you want to be during this unprecedented time? 

Are competing priorities and the lack of time, energy and motivation stopping you from being the best version of yourself? 

Well, if you have managed to keep overwhelm at bay for this long, you must be ready to top up your psychosocial wellness tool kit and take a breath of fresh air. We got you! We know you can’t sustainably care for other well until your are well – like really, really well. 

 Learn simple, purposeful, deliberate actions you can easily implement to help you revitalize yourself so that you can bring your best both personally and professionally. Get ready to see how the Kaizen principle can help you improve your quality of life – even in tough times! And… we may even have a little bit of fun! 

EMERGE (Steve Gilliland) 

The challenges we face in life will test our courage and willingness to change. As individuals, it is not the mountains we must conquer, but ourselves. While we continue to face many unknowns, it is crucial we develop the right mindset to persist and emerge strong-minded from challenging times. EMERGE is a timely and eye-opening message that centers on how to navigate on a course that we never planned, into a future we never imagined. 

Key Points 

• How to feel gratitude when facing any challenge, a perspective from which we can view life in its entirety and not be overwhelmed by temporary circumstances. 
• How to become better, stronger and more confident even when obstacles threaten your progress. 
• How to stay focused on your ‘Why!’ in those stressful moments when nothing seems to be working right, and you’re tempted to retreat. 

Takeaway Message 

Now is the time to learn from yesterday, live for today, and emerge smarter, stronger, and more focused 

Breakout A: No One Wants Pizza: A New Approach to Recruitment and Retention (Claudia Blumenstock & Ellen Bartoldus) 

The staffing crisis has created tremendous tension between leadership and frontline staff. Many times, leaders feel like they are being held hostage by employees who take advantage of staff shortages. Frontline staff often feel that “incentives” like pizza and water bottles make light of the fear and distress created by the pandemic. This does nothing to resolve staffing issues. When we talk about “plugging holes” in a staffing schedule, what impact does that phrase have on staff? While we certainly do not mean anything derogatory when we use these words, how would you feel if you were the person being “plugged into a hole”? To staff, this phrase can mean that as healthcare workers, they are simply interchangeable cogs in the nursing staffing wheel, rather than people with individual value, skill, and competencies. As a result, staff absences increase, and workers begin to look for jobs that are better paid and require less risk and stress.

As we move into this “new normal” and grapple with the recruitment and retention crisis, what are some of the best ways we can inspire and motivate staff to stay?

This interactive, discussion-based session provides a setting to explore some of the basic needs for employees to feel fulfilled in their positions. It examines staff perceptions of leadership’s expectations and actions, and the way that the staffing crisis is impacting them. Leadership styles and approaches, and their intersection with employee perceptions and attitudes will be considered.

Learning objectives include:

• Explore the ways in which frontline staff feel valued, supported and heard, and that influence on recruitment and retention,
• Examine methods and approaches in overcoming obstacles and hostility, as well as the impediments in the way that top leadership and frontline staff perceive engagement with one another,
• Identify skills and approaches that can begin to improve recruitment and retention.

Breakout B: Reclaim Your L.I.F.E. (Stephanie Staples) 

You went into healthcare because you love people and, most likely, especially because you love helping people and that’s awesome. 

But…perhaps you can pinpoint the exact time that you realized you still love helping people and sometimes helping others hurts you. It may have even been before COVID, or during COVID or just yesterday but you knew that you need to be your best outside of work to bring your best inside to work. You need to be loving the life you are living now! 

Despite the lack of time, motivation, energy and/or resources you absolutely can, should & deserve to reclaim your life! 

Come prepared to take notes, share and gather actionable strategies to increase the love, inspiration, fun and energy that you need to raise your quality of life. You will leave refreshed, reenergized and equipped with an array of unique tools to top up your resiliency toolkit! 

Breakout C: What’s Happening: MDS, VBP, & SNF QRP (Deborah Lake) 

CMS continues to make changes to promote their goal of “quality over quantity” in nursing facilities. With that goal in mind, they continue to propose and make changes in the programs they use to measure, monitor, reward or even financially penalize facilities for their performance. Come join us for a discussion of the changes taking place in the Value Based Purchasing (VBP)and SNF Quality Reporting (SNF QRP) programs.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the additional measures that are being added to the VBP and SNF QRP programs.
• Understand what changes may be in store for the MDS 3.0
• Identity areas of improvement that may need to be made on a facility level to improve performance in VBP and SNF QRP programs

“Holding” Your Staff in Times of Crisis: A Key to Reducing Turnover (Claudia Blumenstock & Ellen Bartoldus) 

During times of crisis, the true art of being a leader is guiding people through uncertainty and turmoil. So many times, we can get stuck in the chaos and have difficulty providing both a sense safety and stability that can reduce staff turnover.

The concept of “holding” has a specific meaning in psychology. It is used to describe the way in which a person, often an authority figure, contains and interprets what is happening in times of uncertainty. This person can decrease distress and help others make sense of a confusing or ambiguous situation. For organizational leaders, “holding” is a way to support and maintain a sense of cohesion, connection and hope for the future. Research tells us that staff retention is tied to leaders who know how to welcome, value, and care for staff. The COVID 19 pandemic has taught us that “holding” staff is a key factor in reducing turnover.

This keynote will explore ways for leaders to reduce turnover through purposeful actions that reassure and support staff during these challenging times. Keynote themes include identifying “holding” behaviors that leaders can use to support staff, exploring ways to strengthen organizational resilience and communication skills that are transparent and authentic.

FSSA’s vision for mLTSS (Dr. Dan Rusyniak) 

Please join us for this session as Dr. Dan Rusyniak discusses FSSA’s vision for mLTSS and how nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and the residents and families they care for fit into that vision. Also how FSSA plans to address historical and known friction points that health care providers, generally, continue to experience with managed care companies when delivering care to patients and residents.  

Breakout A: Building Long-lasting Talent Pipelines in Long-Term Care (Commissioner Fred Payne, Mee Hee Smith, Amber Iskander)

Hear from industry, education, and government trailblazers about proven ways to build long-lasting talent pipelines in long-term care! Successful workforce development strategies rely on multipronged approaches that foster alignment between educators and employers and build interest in students and adults to join the health care industry. The government’s role in supporting this integration is critical to ensure workers have the right skills at the right time to be successful in the marketplace and to provide high quality services to residents of long-term care. Learn more about how the Indiana Department of Workforce Development is supporting the health care industry through multiple programs and initiatives; how career and technical education in our K-12 and higher education systems is expanding health care offerings and increasing the talent pipeline in Indiana; and how a leading long-term care provider is leveraging best practices in working with government and education providers.

Breakout B: Building Collaborative Teams to Impact CMS’ National Quality Strategies (Dr. Maria Wilson, Dr. Lori Sieboldt, Andrea Osborne) 

CMS has launched its new National Quality Strategy Objectives to assure quality outcomes, safety, equity, and accessibility is achieved in all care locations. Learn from our panel how they are teaming up with post-acute to collaborate and achieve these new strategies as patients move across the continuum of care.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how Health Systems and Physician led organizations are leveraging their infrastructure to assist post-acute organizations as a team approach to person-centered care.
• Better understand who is taking risk with your patients3.
• Hear from Health Systems and Physician led organizations how they are strategizing for growth

Breakout C: Understanding SNF Consolidated Billing (Amanda Wetzel)

One of the greatest financial challenges to the SNF is the bundling of services included in the Medicare Part A rate and how different fee schedules are used based on site of service.  Amanda Wetzel, SNF Consolidated Billing Specialist for CBSI, will review the bundling provisions related to what services are excluded from the SNF’s payment responsibility and under the circumstances these exclusions exist as well as which fee schedules apply to various sites of service.  She will review Medicare’s Consolidated Billing guidelines and requirements as they touch every element of care from admission to discharge. In today’s economy, every dollar counts. Learn how a thorough understanding of SNF Consolidated Billing leads to a more streamlined billing process, more accurate resident statements, cleaner accounts receivable and improved provider relationships.   

Breakout A: Immigration Solutions to the Healthcare Worker Shortage (Lindsay Ramsey)

With U.S. hospitals facing a dire shortage of healthcare workers amid a pandemic, many are looking abroad to keep up with demand.  We will take a closer look at the types of issues typically seen when recruiting foreign nationals as well as the requirements to retain foreign nationals on both a non-immigrant visa (short-term) and immigrant visa (long-term) basis.

Breakout B: Conquering Indiana’s Kryptonite with Compliance (Lori Davenport)

Breakout C: Healthcare in a Post COVID World (Dr. David Friend) 

What does the future look like for long-term care providers in a post COVID world? This session will help identify challenges, opportunities and trends from the COVID-19 pandemic and will review best practices and strategies for long-term care organizations to stay ahead of the curve.   

Learning Objectives: 

• Lessons Learned from COVID-19  
• The Future Outlook for the Long-Term Care Industry 
• Opportunities for Improvement in the Areas of: 
• Operations / Strategy 
• Financial 
• Clinical 
• Technology 

Staying Right Side Up When Everything’s Upside Down (Linda Larsen) 

How to Stay Focused and Productive In The Face of Chaos and Uncertainty 

Never in our history has there been a greater need for us to be able to effectively navigate a constantly changing landscape.  Living in a state of continual “Unknowing” causes emotional and physical stress, a tendency to withdraw, and an inability to enjoy any quality of life. In her fun, content-rich, interactive, and entertaining way, Linda gives attendees direct access to the mindset and the skillset they need to stay grounded, focused, productive and healthy.  She will give them tools to help them get let go of “But this shouldn’t be happening!” and replace it with, “Time to entertain some other possibilities! I’ve got this!”  By the way, Linda’s fall-out-of-your-chair funny presentation style insures that your audience will get engaged quickly, stay tuned-in all the way through, and be able to remember and apply the information later.