Nursing Homes: Welcome Guide and Resources for Nursing Home Administrators and Directors of Nursing
These resources serve as a guide for new nursing home administrators and directors of nursing at nursing homes.
General information
- About the Department of Health Services (DHS) - DHS is committed to protecting and promoting the health and safety of the people of Wisconsin, making sure everyone can live their best life.
- DHS' Division of Quality Assurance - Bureau of Nursing Home Resident Care (BNHRC) regional offices and contacts can be found on this webpage.
- Local public health - Find resources for local health departments, health officers, boards of health, and others working in public health for the state of Wisconsin.
- Survey Readiness for Long-Term Care Facilities, P-03552 (PDF) - The Bureau of Nursing Home Resident Care (BNHRC) has developed this booklet to help you and your staff be survey ready every day of the year.
- Wisconsin HAI: Contact Information - The Wisconsin Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) prevention program conducts statewide HAI surveillance and provides technical assistance in a variety of areas for health care and public health partners. Contact information for program staff can be found on this webpage.
Associations, councils, and organizations
- Aging And Disability Resource Center (ADRC) - Your local ADRC can help if you have questions about aging or living with a disability. Your ADRC can provide information on a variety of programs and services, including long-term care options. They also help people apply for programs and benefits, including publicly funded long-term care.
- LeadingAge Wisconsin - Committed to advancing the fields of long-term care, assisted living, and retirement living. They strive to develop a continuum of elderly care and services that meets the holistic needs of seniors and individuals with a disability to encourage maximum independence and enhance quality of life.
- Wisconsin Director of Nursing Council - Provides support and education to directors of nursing, nursing supervisors, nursing managers, directors, and all those who work in the long-term and post-acute nursing continuum of care.
- Contact the council by phone, mailing address, or message them directly through the website.
- Executive committee, board of directors, and association staff
- Wisconsin Health Care Association & Wisconsin Center for Assisted Living (WHCA/WICAL) - A non-profit organization dedicated to representing, protecting, and advancing the interests of Wisconsin's long-term care provider community and the residents they serve.
- Wisconsin Nursing Home Social Workers Association (WNHSWA) - Offers educational programs that target skills and issues relevant to social workers in nursing homes.
- Wisconsin Representatives Of Activity Professionals - Empowers individuals facilitating activity services by providing education, advocacy, and networking opportunities to achieve personal growth and excellence in professional practice.
- Wisconsin Society of Post-Acute & Long-Term Care Medicine (Wis-PALTCM) - An organization of Wisconsin nursing home medical directors and extended care professionals dedicated to quality care in Wisconsin extended care facilities, through education, legislative dialogue, and cooperation with other providers.
Resident advocacy
- Board on Aging and Long Term Care Ombudsman Program - A long term care ombudsman works with individuals and their families to protect and promote the rights of long-term care consumers, while also working with long-term care service providers to define and achieve the highest standards possible.
- Coverage map contact information, organized alphabetically by county.
- Ombudsman frequently asked questions
- Ombudsman program complaint form (individuals may file a complaint online or contact an ombudsman by phone or email)
- Disability Rights Wisconsin - This is a private non-profit organization that protects the rights of people with disabilities statewide.
Caregiver tools and trainings
- Center for Community Development, Engagement and Training (CCDET) - CCDET offers creative solutions to meet workplace challenges by utilizing University resources to provide consulting services, training and educational services, data management and project management. Learn more about CCDET Education and Events.
- University of Wisconsin - Green Bay: Community-Based Care and Treatment Training Registry - The Wisconsin Community-Based Care and Treatment Training Registry keeps track of individuals who meet criteria of state-mandated trainings for community settings. You can find new training opportunities for administrators and assisted living staff on this webpage.
- WisCaregiver Careers - A free program designed to provide jobs, training, incentives, and rewards to encourage people of all ages to start in health care by working in our state's nursing homes.
- Wisconsin Nurse Aide Program: Training and Registry - Find information about nurse aide requirements for employment eligibility in Wisconsin.
- Nurse Aide Program: Becoming a CNA in Wisconsin - This webpage explains what steps to follow to get started and maintain CNA eligibility for various scenarios.
- Medication Aides: Nursing Homes and Hospices - This webpage describes the requirements unlicensed staff must meet to give medications to Wisconsin nursing home residents and hospice patients.
Education
- Clinical Resource Center (CRC) - This website is a user-friendly resource which provides links to educational and clinical information about selected care areas and training topics, as well as full copies of the AMDA Clinical Practice Guides and other tools and resources from AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. You must register and log in to access the modules.
- Care Area Modules
- Challenging Behaviors
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Dehydration & Fluid Maintenance
- Dementia
- Depression
- Diabetes Management
- Falls & Fall Risk
- Infection
- Nutrition
- Pain Management
- Person-Centered Care
- Pressure Injury Prevention & Treatment
- Restraints
- Transitions in Care
- Urinary & Bowel Incontinence
- Training Modules
- Managing Challenging Behaviors
- Person-Centered Comprehensive Care Plans
- Review of the Care Process: Getting to the Root of the Matter
- Identifying and Responding to the Changes in Resident Condition (ICRC): The Impact of Effective Communication between the Licensed Nurse and Medical Provider
- Building Relationships Within a Clinical/Cultural Environment
- Infection Prevention and Control Within a Clinical/Cultural Environment
- Care Area Modules
Infection control
- Antimicrobial Stewardship: Resources for Health Care Providers - Find antimicrobial stewardship resources and tools for health care professionals.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - The CDC is the nation's leading science-based, data-driven, service organization that protects the public's health.
- CDC Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) - Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a threat to patient safety. The CDC provides national leadership in surveillance, outbreak investigations, laboratory research, and prevention of healthcare-associated infections. Learn more about diseases and organisms, types of HAIs, preventing HAIs, patient safety, and HAI research.
- DHS HAI Infection Prevention Education - The resources on this webpage are intended to connect health care facility infection preventionists with educational materials to support their role in preventing, detecting, and responding to healthcare-associated infections.
- HAI Infection Prevention Education - The resources found on this webpage are intended to connect health care facility infection preventionists (IP) with educational materials to support their role in preventing, detecting, and responding to healthcare-associated infections (HAI).
- National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) - The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) is a national healthcare-associated infection (HAI) reporting system developed and maintained by the CDC. It is the most widely used tracking system for HAIs in the United States. NHSN is used by health care providers to report surveillance data using standardized definitions to identify HAIs.
Nursing home survey material
- Care Compare - This tool provides a single source search and compare experience for people with Medicare or their caregivers who want to choose a Medicare provider (like physicians, hospitals, nursing homes, and others).
- CMS Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) Manual - This webpage includes the current version of the MDS 3.0 RAI Manual and associated documents. This page will be updated when an update is made to the MDS RAI 3.0 Manual, a newer version of the MDS RAI 3.0 Manual becomes available, or important information regarding the MDS 3.0 RAI Manual needs to be communicated.
- CMS Nursing Homes Quality, Safety & Oversight- Guidance to Laws & Regulations - Nursing home surveys are conducted in accordance with survey protocols and federal requirements to determine whether a citation of non-compliance is appropriate. The survey protocols and interpretive guidelines serve to clarify and/or explain the intent of the regulations. All surveyors are required to use them in assessing compliance with federal requirements. Deficiencies are based on violations of the regulations, which are to be based on observations of the nursing home's performance or practices. Check the downloads section of this webpage for the latest versions of these resources:
- CMS Form 802
- LTCSP Initial Pool Care Area
- F-Tag Crosswalk
- Appendix PP State Operations Manual
- Revision History for LTC Survey Process Documents and Files
- Survey Resources (Survey Pathways, Initial Pool Care Areas, Entrance Conference Exam, Immediate Jeopardy Template, LTCSP Complaints Guide, Psychosocial Severity Grid, Staff Matrix for F888)
- CMS Policy & Memos to States and CMS Locations - CMS Quality Safety & Oversight memoranda, guidance, clarifications and instructions to State Survey Agencies and CMS Locations.
- CMS Staffing Data Submission Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) - Section 6106 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires facilities to electronically submit direct care staffing information (including agency and contract staff) based on payroll and other auditable data. The data, when combined with census information, can then be used to report on the level of staff in each nursing home, as well as employee turnover and tenure, which can impact the quality of care delivered.
- CMS Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Measures and Technical Information - This webpage provides information on the quality measures reported by SNFs. Quality measures are tools that help measure or quantify healthcare processes, outcomes, patient or resident perceptions, and organizational structure/systems that are associated with the ability to provide high-quality services related to one or more quality goals.
- DHS Nursing Homes: RAI/MDS 3.0 Information - This webpage includes RAI/MDS resources for Wisconsin providers, including RAI/MDS educational forum, technical resources, and the contact information for the Wisconsin RAI Education Coordinator and the MDS Automation Coordinator.
Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement
- CMS QAPI Website - Quality Assurance (QA) and Performance Improvement (PI) takes a systematic, comprehensive, and data-driven approach to maintaining and improving safety and quality in nursing homes while involving all nursing home caregivers in practical and creative problem solving. CMS provides resources, such as the Process Tool Framework (PDF), to providers developing their QAPI process.
Rules and regulations
- Board of Nursing Wisconsin Administrative Code - State of Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services Board of Nursing
- DHS Nursing Homes: Rules and Regulations - This webpage includes links to state and federal regulations for nursing homes.
Email updates
- CMS.gov Email Updates - CMS offers update notifications by email for many topics and programs when new information is available. Sign up for the topics that are important to you.
- MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program - MedWatch is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's medical product safety reporting program for health professionals, patients, and consumers. Sign up to receive MedWatch safety alerts directly from the FDA.
- Regulations: Division of Quality Assurance Email Subscription - Subscribe to these listservs to receive important information from DQA. You can also learn more about Medicaid Long-Term Care Email Subscriptions or Join One of Our Other DHS Lists to Receive Email Updates.
- Superior Health Quality Alliance - The Superior Health Quality Alliance aims to improve the quality of health and health care for health care consumers, patients, clinicians, health care organizations, and communities. The Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) program helps CMS implement key elements of the Department of Health and Human Services' National Quality Strategy and federal health reform efforts. Superior Health Quality Alliance currently serves as the QIN-QIO for Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Join the QIN-QIO email list.
- University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh CCDET news - You can sign up to receive approximately 1-2 emails per month highlighting the latest training opportunities.
- Wisconsin Director of Nursing Council Email Signup - Join the mailing list to receive general email information, such as event announcements.
Miscellaneous
- CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) - CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network is the nation's most widely used healthcare-associated infection tracking system. NHSN provides facilities, states, regions, and the nation with data needed to identify problem areas, measure progress of prevention efforts, and ultimately eliminate healthcare-associated infections.
- Office of Evaluation and Inspections Reports - These reports contain findings of audits and evaluations conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services, assess how well programs and grantees/contractors are working, identify risks to the people they serve and to taxpayers, and recommend necessary improvements.