Understanding SNF VBP in Detail

Registration Closed

This course contains 6 modules that provide an in-depth description of each feature of the CMS Skilled Nursing Facility Value Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) program along with helpful tools, documents, and primary source references to the program. This course covers how CMS calculates the 1) rehospitalization rates, including risk adjustments, 2) a facility’s performance score, and 3) the resulting incentive payment multiplier, which is used to adjust a facility’s Part A payments.

Modules also provide demonstrations on how to access and interpret CMS feedback reports, like the SNF VBP Performance Score Report containing your incentive payment multiplier information, and AHCA's SNF VBP prediction tool that allows a facility to estimate the financial impact different rehospitalization rates will have on their revenue.

Who is this Training For?

Principally, nursing home administrators, directors of nursing and any other staff including corporate staff who are responsible for payment models and rehospitalization reduction efforts.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand how CMS calculates the measures, risk adjustment, the facility score and payment adjustment.

2. Use and access the CMS SNF VBP feedback reports and the SNF Performance Score Report.

3. Apply the incentive payment multiplier.

4. Use the SNF VBP prediction calculator to estimate the financial impact different SNFRM rates have on your Part A revenue.

5. Adopt best practices to help either avoid a payment penalty or receive an increase in your Medicare Part A payments.

How much does it cost to take the SNF VBP training?

Registration fee: $25 members, $65 nonmembers. Payment and registration is completed by individual participant in ahcancalED.

-- The individual who wants to take the SNF VBP course must login to ahcancalED and register for the course under their individual login. For a better web experience, please use Google Chrome Internet Browser and NOT Internet Explorer.

All Understanding SNF VBP in Detail materials subject to this copyright may be photocopied or distributed for the purpose of nonprofit or educational advancement. The use, photocopying, and distribution for commercial purposes of any of these materials is expressly prohibited without the prior written permission of American Health Care Association.

What is the SNF VBP Training?

Do you have to be an AHCA member to register for SNF VBP?

No. Both AHCA members and nonmembers are eligible to participate in the SNF VBP course.

How much does it cost to take the SNF VBP training?

Registration fee: $25 members, $65 nonmembers. Payment and registration is completed by individual participant in ahcancalED.

How can an individual register and pay for SNF VBP?

The individual who wants to take the SNF VBP course must login to ahcancalED and register for the course under their individual login. Payment will be made in ahcancalED upon registration via credit card or E-check. Please be sure to have your credit card or banking information ready at checkout. Paying by credit card or E-Check will grant automatic access to the course. Registrations for SNF VBP cannot be done by another person or under another person’s ahcancalED login.

-- for a better web experience, please use Google Chrome Internet Browser and NOT Internet Explorer.

Can I get a refund on the SNF VBP product if I no longer want to take the course?

No refunds are issued for SNF VBP.

Can my SNF VBP registration be transferred to a colleague?

SNF VBP registrations cannot be transferred. The individual that registers for the course is the only one that has access to it.

Who is eligible to take this training?

The AHCA SNF VBP Training does not require a particular healthcare license. Principally, nursing home administrators, directors of nursing, finance staff and any other staff including corporate staff who are responsible for payment models and rehospitalization reduction efforts should complete this training.

What are the requirements to successfully complete SNF VBP?

Participate in each module and successfully complete the final test (achieve at least 80% correct)

The final test after Module 6 will have 10 questions (8 of 10 questions must be accurately completed)

Complete course evaluation at the end of the course.

How long does it take on average to complete the SNF VBP course?

Participants are encouraged to spread out the course over time in an organized manner – such as scheduling module reviews on various dates/times when they can focus their attention to it. The course could be completed within a week or over several months based on how the individual would like to approach the program.

Are Contact Hours awarded for SNF VBP?

No.

What does a participant get when they complete the SNF VBP course?

Participants receive an AHCA/NCAL certificate of completion.

Is SNF VBP a certification?

No.

Can I print the presentation slides and how can I access the resources within the module?

Yes. Each module contains a variety of files which includes a copy of the presentation and any necessary supporting documents discussed within the module.

I am having technical difficulties with SNF VBP, can you help?

Please email us at educate@ahca.org.

Where can I get more information on SNF VBP?

For more information, email CMS at SNFVBPinquiries@cms.hhs.gov

-- for a better web experience, please use Google Chrome Internet Browser and NOT Internet Explorer.

David Gifford, MD, MPH

Chief Medical Officer , AHCA

Chief Medical Officer, AHCA David Gifford, MD, MPH, is a geriatrician and former medical director of several nursing homes in Rhode Island. He currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer at the American Health Care Association. He helped create the Quality Department at AHCA which assists providers in their quality improvement efforts and works with administration officials on regulations and policies impacting the profession.

Dr. Gifford also serves on the Board of the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes campaign and the Baldrige Foundation Board. He is a former Director of the Rhode Island State Department of Health, where he received the National Governor’s award for Distinguished Service Award for State Officials. Prior to that he served as Chief Medical Officer for Quality Partners of Rhode Island where he directed CMS’ national nursing home-based quality improvement effort. He also holds a faculty appointment at Brown University Medical School and School of Public Health. He received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and conducted his geriatric fellowship at UCLA where he also earned his Master’s in Public Health while a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar.

Holly Harmon, RN, MBA, LNHA, FACHCA

Senior VP, Quality, Regulatory & Clinical Services

Holly Harmon, RN, MBA, LNHA, FACHCA brings both passion anda wealth of practical, real-world, clinical and operational experience to herrole as Senior Director of Clinical Services at AHCA. Her extensive service ina wide array of settings including post-acute care, long term care, residentialcare, assisted living, independent living, a psychiatric hospital andoccupational health have provided her with insights, knowledge, skills andinnovative ideas which she exuberantly shares with others.

In addition to her vast clinical experience, Ms. Harmon hasput her dynamic energy into leading the statewide Maine Culture ChangeCoalition/LANE as President, the Maine Partnership to Improve Dementia Care inNursing Homes as Co-Chair, Vice-President of American College of Health CareAdministrators, Maine Chapter and the Maine LANE Co-Convener for the nationalAdvancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes Campaign. She also served asthe Director of Quality Improvement & Regulatory Affairs at the MaineHealth Care Association.

She puts her boundless energy and warm and energeticpersonality into training, education and presenting both, nationally andlocally. She has made simplifying the complex world of long term and post-acutecare policy and practice an art.

Kiran Sreenivas, MS CPHQ

Research Director, AHCA

Kiran Sreenivas is a Research Director at American Health Care Association (AHCA) in Washington, DC. He supports AHCA’s Quality Initiative, LTC Trend Tracker, and other projects aimed at improving lives and delivering solutions for quality care.

His passion is helping others use data to make informed decisions. Prior to joining AHCA, he worked four years at America’s Essential Hospitals on a collaborative to reduce hospital readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions, such as pressure ulcers and surgical site infections.

Kiran is currently working on earning a Doctor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He received his master’s in health policy at George Washington University and his bachelor’s in biology at Northwestern University.

Katherine Almendinger, MS

Research Director, AHCA

Katherine Almendinger is a Research Director at the American Health Care Association. She supports AHCA’s members by distilling policy, legislative, and regulatory oversight changes into actionable information used for quality improvement and successful change navigation. She uses data to understand how these changes impact the long-term and post-acute care sector, our membership, and residents receiving care. Katherine is also responsible for the acquisition, management, and legal compliance of AHCA’s use of restricted datasets from CMS.

Prior to joining the AHCA team, Katherine worked at the Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC), where she helped researchers use CMS data to improve program administration and the quality of care its beneficiaries receive. She also has experience in implementing an infectious disease biomarkers study, computational biology, research in genetic metabolic disorders and orthopedic biochemistry, and was a Peace Corps volunteer. She has worked at the University of Minnesota, the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. She volunteers at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and in after school science clubs to share her love of complex systems, problem solving, and using data to make the world a better place.

Education: Johns Hopkins University - DrPH (in progress), health policy & management; Harvard School of Public Health - MS, epidemiology; University of Minnesota - BS, chemistry, molecular biology.

How to Register in ahcancalED

Easy as 1, 2, 3 !

Step 1

Go to the ahcancalED site at https://educate.ahcancal.org/and log in using the orange button in the upper left hand corner.

Use your usual user name and password that you would use for LTC Trend Tracker or the AHCA NCAL website.

Don’t have one or can’t remember?

Click the log in button and follow the directions found under the search button that reads-“If you need help retrieving your Username or Password, click here”.

*Please note* you must add your member facility name to your login

Once you are in and can see your name in the upper left hand corner, you are ready to go.

Step 2

From the home page click on a category (Resources, Training, Webinars or Trending Now) For this demonstration, let’s try hovering over Webinars until upcoming webinars displays.

Under “upcoming webinars” go to a product in which you are interested. Click on the title.

You’ll be redirected to the site where you can register for the product. This allows you to view the overview, handouts or resources associated with that product.

Step 3