Restorative nursing is essential for enhancing residents’ quality of life, promoting independence, and improving overall health outcomes. When staff is trained in restorative techniques, communities can better support residents in overcoming daily physical, communicative, and functional challenges, helping them lead fuller, more meaningful lives.
Category: Gero Nurse Prep
Reminder: ICD-10-CM Coding Updates for April 1, 2025
- Code only a confirmed diagnosis of the COVID-19 (U07.1) as documented by the provider (physician or other qualified healthcare practitioner legally accountable for establishing the patient’s diagnosis). The current guidance that documentation of a positive test alone represents a confirmed diagnosis will no longer be in effect beginning April 1.
- For asymptomatic residents who test positive for COVID-19, query the medical provider as to whether the resident has COVID-19. The guidance notes that false positives are possible, and it is the medical provider’s responsibility to confirm and document a diagnosis.
Today is Certified Nurses Day and Gero Nurse Prep is Celebrating with a Spring Sale!
Certified Nurses Day™ occurs every March 19 and is an annual day of recognition for and by health care leaders dedicated to nursing professionalism, excellence, recognition, and service. The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living’s Gero Nurse Prep course significantly increases RNs’ gerontological nursing competency test scores. Registrants can save $200 on Gero Nurse Prep through May 15, 2025, with promo code GROWRNS (all caps).
- Lower rehospitalization rates for short stay and long stay residents
- Fewer deficiencies on average
- Fewer Immediate Jeopardy (IJ) citations
- More stars — twice as likely to be a CMS 5-Star facility (44% versus 19%)
March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
Every March, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) and its partners collaborate to lead Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month (DDAM), an annual campaign highlighting how people with and without disabilities form strong communities together. Established in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month highlights the importance of fostering a society where people with disabilities are empowered to contribute to their communities. NACDD’s 2025 theme, We’re Here All Year, focuses on how people and programs are always contributing, not just during this observance.
Simplifying Oxygen Signage Requirements
Managing life safety compliance is a complex, multi-faceted task. It requires knowledge in multiple codes, utilization of the proper code editions, and determination of which requirements are applicable to your building. This blog post will break down the requirements around oxygen signage.


Now Available: ICD-10-CM Code Update Files
The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) posted the updated ICD-10-CM code files to address revisions to the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting and other typographical errors. These updates are effective April 1, 2025. The CDC has announced there are no new ICD-10-CM codes effective April 1, 2025.
- Code only a confirmed diagnosis of the COVID-19 (U07.1) as documented by the provider (physician or other qualified health care practitioner legally accountable for establishing the patient’s diagnosis). The current guidance that documentation of a positive test is a confirmed diagnosis will no longer be in effect beginning April 1.
- For asymptomatic residents who test positive for COVID-19, query the medical provider as to whether or not the resident has COVID-19. The guidance notes that false positives are possible, and it is the medical provider’s responsibility to confirm and document a diagnosis.
Now Available: 2025 National Skilled Nursing Care Week® Planning Guide, Resources, and Products
The American Health Care Association (AHCA) is excited to announce the launch of the 2025 National Skilled Nursing Care Week® (NSNCW) Planning Guide, promotional resources, logos/graphics, and products! These materials, available at NSNCW.org, are designed to assist in planning, promoting, and celebrating NSNCW and will provide you with all you need to make this week memorable for your residents, staff, and volunteers.
Begin your NSNCW 2025 preparations today and help us create a week filled with unforgettable moments! We look forward to celebrating with everyone and spreading joy throughout your communities May 11 through May 17, 2025.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Here are some ideas on how you can start planning your NSNCW celebrations now.
- Use the Planning Guide to plan your activities for the week. Or use them to help come up with your own unique celebrations!
- Begin planning how you will promote NSNCW activities with those outside your building. Use materials in the promotional toolkit to reach out to media, local and national elected officials, and your surrounding community to spread the word.
- Use the NSNCW graphics and logos to promote NSNCW in your newsletters and other materials.
- Visit NSNCW.org for a wide selection of Tapestry of Life themed gifts and decorations to help you celebrate the week. Be sure to order early!
Don’t forget to share! Be sure to tell us how your staff, volunteers, residents, and families are celebrating. Share your inspiring stories, photos, videos, and other content with AHCA/NCAL at storiesofcare@ahca.org. Remember to tag @NationalSkilledNursingCareWeek on Facebook and in any NSNCW-related posts and use #NSNCW.
ABOUT THE THEME
Tapestry of Life highlights the meaningful stories that make up each person’s journey in skilled nursing care. From residents and families to caregivers and staff, everyone adds a unique thread that is woven into this vibrant tapestry. This theme celebrates the connections, resilience and strength that unite us all. Learn more about NSNCW.
Join the Free COE-NF Behavioral Health Action Network Spring Series
Beginning in March 2025, the Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health in Nursing Facilities (COE-NF) will host a three-part series of virtual one-hour sessions.
- Part 1: Incorporating behavioral health & substance use disorder (SUD) into Individualized Assessment & Person-Centered Care
- Part 2: Engaging with Residents: Effective Communication Skills
- Part 3: De-Escalating Aggressive Behavior and Crisis Situations with Residents
- Part 1: Tuesday, March 4, 2025
- Part 2: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
- Part 3: Tuesday, April 1, 2025
- Part 1: Thursday, March 6, 2025
- Part 2: Thursday, March 20, 2025
- Part 3: Thursday, April 3, 2025
- Part 1: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
- Part 2: Wednesday, March 26, 2025
- Part 3: Wednesday, April 9, 2025
- Part 1: Thursday, March 13, 2025
- Part 2: Thursday, March 27, 2025
- Part 3: Thursday, April 10, 2025
How to Structure Your Compliance Program
Nursing, assisted living, and post-acute facilities have long been an area of scrutiny by the Office on Inspector General (OIG) as they are high-risk areas. It is important that an organization have a formal compliance program as proactive and preventive; a structure to address issues; and as a mitigating factor should compliance violations be identified by regulatory agencies.
OIG recognizes a common structure for compliance programs centered around seven elements. They are:
- Written policies, procedures, and standards of conduct
- How accessible are they to all employees?
- How often are they reviewed?
- What is the process/procedure for review and approval?
- Are they written in understandable language?
Find out more by going to https://www.providermagazine.com/Articles/Pages/How-to-Structure-Your-Compliance-Program.aspx
Do You Maintain a Compliant Fire Safety Plan?
Fire safety is a critical component of any healthcare organization’s overall safety program. As such, healthcare providers are required to develop facility-specific fire and evacuation procedures, provide fire safety training, and conduct regularly scheduled fire drills.
- Use of Alarms: Upon discovery of a fire, procedures should direct staff to quickly activate the fire alarm system via the closest manual pull station. In addition to building-wide notification, activation of the fire alarm will likely initiate a variety of automatic actions such as door release, HVAC shutdown, and fire department notification.
- Transmission of Alarms to the Fire Department: Your fire alarm system most likely maintains some direct connection to ensure the fire department is automatically notified when the alarm is activated. This is commonly accomplished via the use of a central monitoring service. However, there are a handful of other arrangements that lead to the same outcome. Ensure your procedures specifically spell out how alarms are transmitted to the fire department.
- Emergency Phone Call to Fire Department: Although the fire alarm system is required to automatically contact the fire department, a direct phone call to the fire department (usually via 911), is an extremely important step. Not only does it serve as a back-up communication, but it allows the facility to provide details regarding the situation directly to emergency personnel. Specific information can be extremely valuable to dispatchers and firefighters and may have a direct impact on the emergency response. Make sure your procedures include a back-up phone call and clarify who is to make the back-up call on all shifts.
- Response to Alarms: It is important that procedures clarify who should respond to the fire area when. For example, during normal business hours, there are often additional staff in the building available to respond to alarms. However, in the evening and overnight, it may be necessary for additional clinical staff to report to the fire area to ensure there are enough hands to implement the procedures. Procedures should detail roles for all staff upon activation of the alarm.
- Isolation of the Fire: Health care occupancies are specifically designed to contain smoke, thereby limiting its ability to travel throughout the building. Closing doors, and keeping them closed, is a critical step in limiting smoke travel. Staff procedures should clarify their role in closing the door to the fire room along with the remaining doors in the building.
- Evacuation of Immediate Area: Quick removal of the occupants of the fire room is essential. Procedures should place emphasis on evacuation of the fire room followed by closure of the fire room door to keep smoke from spreading.
- Evacuation of the Smoke Compartment: Extended evacuation beyond the fire room is an important decision to be made and depends on a few factors. Procedures should clarify when it is appropriate to evacuate the remainder of the smoke compartment, order of evacuation, and the evacuation destination. Evacuation floorplans are often a helpful visual reference that clarify smoke barrier boundaries, evacuation direction, and fire department entry.
- Preparation of Floors and Building for Evacuation: While the initial point of focus is the immediate fire area, staff should simultaneously be taking action throughout the remainder of the building as well. This includes preparing for possible extended evacuation of the fire floor, floors above or below, or possibly the entire building. Procedures should outline who will determine the need for further evacuation, how it will be communicated, and what the extended evacuation process will entail. This may include vertical evacuation techniques for multi-story buildings.
- Extinguishment of Fire: It may be appropriate for staff to extinguish a fire. Procedures should clarify the situations, methods, and supporting equipment available for fire suppression.