How This Long Term Care Organization Got $3000 in CMP Money

Did you know that Long Term Care Facilities may qualify for up to $3,000 in CMP?

CMP: Civil Monetary Penalties

A CMP is a sanction imposed against long term care facilities for committing fraud or an Immediate Jeopardy situation. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) study the case and decide if the SNF requires civil monetary penalties or its exclusion from the Medicare and Medicaid program.

Here are the references on how the penalties are calculated depending on the infraction.

A CMP is an efficient measure to regulate long term care facilities from harmful behaviors, but it can also turn into a productive, indirect tool to improve their provided services.

The collected capital accumulates in an interest-bearing account the state reinvests in supporting skilled nursing facilities when meeting specific requirements.

CMPs Before and After Covid-19

In the past, the Civil Monetary Penalties Funds were sometimes challenging to access. Facilities could apply for a CMP grant, but the grant proposal needed to have enough documentation to be approved.

If the application could not prove its evidence-based outcomes, the facilities would have fewer chances to obtain the claimed resources. Since Covid-19 overwhelmed the country’s long term care health systems, the funds are more easily available for skilled nursing facilities.

Laura Cartwright says in the interview above:

“All you had to do was fill out this form. It asks what technology is wanted, how much it costs, and we got up to $3,000.”

How Laura Cartwright From Nazareth Home Earned the CMP Grant

Laura Cartwright is an RN and specialist in quality and education at the Highlands Campus for the Nazareth Home in Kentucky. Before getting her RN license, Laura studied and worked in fine arts, and it was still before even working as a nurse when she learned about the CMP grants and all the funds the states were concentrating out of Civil Monetary Penalties.

CMP Funds Application Process

In April 2020, the CMS put out the emergency grants to help facilities face the difficulties of Covid-19.

As soon as Laura learned about it, she sent the state’s application for a $3,000 technology grant designated to the residents’ communication and councils’ improvement.

They found the Kentucky grant representative’s contact to apply for the CMP grant and got informed about every application process step.

You can find your state contact for CMP reinvestment at the bottom of this article.

To be considered for the funding, each application must include the following information:

Facility’s name
Number of residents
Devices information
Cost per device
The total number of devices requested.
Total funds requested

Communicative Technology CMP Grant

Because of the situation’s urgency, Nazareth Home went ahead and financed the equipment they needed on their own before the reimburse would be approved.

Their proposal required communicative devices to connect residents with their families and loved ones during the pandemic’s isolation in the long term care facility.

The purchase consisted of eight iPads for each one of their campuses, along with their corresponding cases. The acquisition cost $2,950, right on the cusp of the available $3,000.

The major hitch the SNF had to face was being able to buy all the tablets at once. Laura explains how they needed iPads for too many people, but there was a limit of iPads they could get at a time. They had to go through a vendor they had a partnership with to get all the products they needed soon.

In the end, Laura managed to get 16 iPads for both Nazareth Home campuses, and by the middle of May, the reimbursing check arrived.

Long Term Care Facilities Need for Communicative Equipment

Communicative devices help long term care facilities connect with their families, turning into a helpful tool to combat social isolation’s adverse outcomes.

Combating the Covid-19 pandemic has required the skilled nursing facilities to self-isolate for long periods and follow other crucial recommendations to stop the spread of the virus within their communities.

A Guide Through COVID-19 for Long Term Care Facilities

Learn about the CMS and CDC recommendations to slow the spread of the Covid-19 in SNFs in the following ABILITY INFECTIONWATCH webinar

The WHO (World Health Organization) and governments worldwide agree on the crucial importance of social isolation in fighting the virus spread.

The problem is that social isolation may carry severe health issues. Research has linked confinement and loneliness to a variety of physical and mental conditions:

High blood pressure
Heart disease
Obesity
Immune system weakening
Anxiety
Depression
Cognitive decline
Alzheimer’s disease
Death

Skilled nursing and senior care facilities have isolated their residents from the community, family, and friends to protect them. In many cases, they have been isolated even from the rest of the residents. Strict measures of this sort have led to a significant decline in the residents’ health.

For more detailed information about the social isolation outcomes and solutions, take a look at our interview with Kevin McCormick:

Combating Depression and Social Isolation in Long Term Care

Technology to Connect People

From the different possibilities the CMS offers to help long term care facilities, the Communicative Technology Grant is the most common among the applications. The CMS and facilities understand the power of communication to overcome social isolation, and the CMP fund has already financed a significant amount of these projects across the country.

Facilities may use CMP funds for (among others) the following reasons:

Projects that support resident and family councils and other consumer involvement in assuring quality care in facilities
Assistance to support and protect residents of a facility that closes
Residents relocation expenses when a facility is closed
Facility improvement initiatives.

Laura Cartwright found the opportunity to provide residents a mental health and life improvement in the Communicative Technology Grant.

The grant served to purchase iPads the residents could use to FaceTime with their families. The money covered the iPads, their cases, and cleaning solutions. The funds could be used for any kind of adaptive equipment they could prove destined for their residents’ telecommunication, like, for example, cameras for video calls.

Laura noted, some iPads were dedicated only to the Covid-19 unit. Nobody else could use them, and they were regularly cleaned. The facility always kept all devices safely cleaned with the proper antiviral, alcohol wipes. The tablets became the only way residents could contact their families and friends during uncertain times of isolation and loneliness. In some cases, the iPads became some residents’ entire social lives.

CMP Grants For Telehealth

As another communicative implementation for the residents’ care, the staff also used the iPads for telehealth.

While one nurse practitioner had to quarantine at home for caution, she continued assisting residents by working from home.

Thanks to the CMP Grant, we could keep direct communication between her and the patients she would need to interview and check on. Even if we can do a more integrated assessment in person, we had nurses at both ends of the call coordinating to share all the needed assessments, ensuring the service was complete as usual.

Laura CartWright, RN

In-person Visits

Nazareth Home is currently free of Covid-19 cases, but they still give communicative approaches to the iPads use.

While still preserving strict social distancing measures, they are beginning to open up to family councils. These reunions are getting very popular in health care centers because they allow patients to keep a safe distance from visitors.

The problem long term care facilities residents face is that they often have hearing problems because of their advanced age. A resident with hearing limitations cannot keep up with a conversation wearing masks six feet away. During in-person visits, residents still use iPads to FaceTime with the visitors so that the video call audio makes their encounter possible.

CMP Visitations Grant

The CMS has also released a new initiative to finance measures that ensure these visits’ safety.

Apart from the Communicative Technology Grant, the CMS is also offering funds for other productive initiatives.

The In-Person Visitations Aid CMP Grant allows long term care facilities to invest the CMP funds to purchase equipment that improves outside visitations’ safety. The application must fall in the qualifications by proving the manufacturer’s products safe. Facilities can use this grant to purchase tents and screens that allow a safe encounter with outsiders.

Learn more about the CDC instructions for visitors management

CMP Funds’ Outcomes for Nazareth Home

By applying for the CMP grants, Laura Cartwright helped Nazaret Home residents overcome the pandemic isolation struggles.

Nazareth Home is a Catholic-based SNF founded by the Sisters of Charity. Along with its sister campus in Clifton, Nazareth Home suffered the challenges Covid-19 has brought to health care facilities during the pandemic. They had to deal with cases on both campuses in Kentucky and figure out how to get it out of their community to ensure the facilities’ safety.

Thanks to the CMP funds, Nazareth Home is now more equipped to face a situation that has taken all care facilities worldwide by surprise.

How to Apply for the CMP Grant

Even the more prepared health systems had to take urgent measures to fight this crisis. These CMS emergency programs are a great help for long term care facilities. The process aims to be accessible enough for facilities to qualify for the funds and quickly reimburse expenses.

All facilities need to do is finding their state contact for CMP Reinvestment in the following list and follow the easy instructions to provide the forms and documentation required.

State Contacts for CMP Reinvestment

State	Representative	Phone	Email
Alabama	Dennis Blair	(334) 206-5366	Dennis.Blair@adph.state.al.us
Alaska	Mary Perius	(907) 334-2488	Mary.Perius@alaska.gov
Arizona	Diane Eckles	(602) 364-2675	Diane.Eckles@azdhs.gov
Arkansas	Sandra Broughton	(501) 320-6182	Sandra.Broughton@dhs.arkansas.gov
California	Carly Carroll	(916) 449-5582	Carly.Carroll@cdph.ca.gov
Colorado	Randy Kuykendall	(303) 692-2945	Randy.Kuykendall@state.co.us
Connecticut	Donna Ortelle	(860) 509-7520	Donna.Ortelle@ct.gov
Delaware	Renee Purzycki	(302) 421-7444	Renee.Purzycki@delaware.gov
District of Columbia	Veronica Longstreth	(202) 442-4737	Veronica.Longstreth@dc.gov
Florida	Marsha Webb	(850) 228-7109	Marsha.Webb@ahca.myflorida.com
Georgia	LaKeisha Levy	(404) 463-8987	Lakeisha.Levy@dch.ga.gov
Hawaii	Keith Ridley	(808) 692-7227	Keith.Ridley@doh.hawaii.gov
Idaho	Debby Ransom	(208) 334-6626	RansomD@dhw.idaho.gov
Illinois	Aimee D. Isham	(217) 782-2363	Aimee.Isham2@illinois.gov
Indiana	Nancy Adams	(317) 233-7119	NAdams1@isdh.in.gov
Iowa	Sally Oudekerk	(515) 256-4643	Soudeke@dhs.state.ia.us
Kansas	Lacey Hunter	(785) 296-1269	lacey.hunter@ks.gov
Kentucky	Gina Riddell	(502) 564-2888	CMPAPPLICATION_OIG@ky.gov
Louisiana	Cecile Castello	(225) 342-4997	Cecile.Castello@la.gov
Maine	Elizabeth Church	(207) 287-9335	Elizabeth.Church@maine.gov
Maryland	Shaliek Maxwell-West	(410) 402-8189	shaliek.maxwell-west@maryland.gov
Massachusetts	Dr. Katherine T. Fillo	(617) 753-7328	Katherine.Fillo@state.ma.us
Michigan	Cheryl A. Klima	(517) 241-7334	Klimac@michigan.gov
Minnesota	Munna Yasiri	(651) 431-2264	Munna.Yasiri@state.mn.us
Mississippi	Michelle Austin	(601) 364-1106	Michelle.Austin@msdh.ms.gov
Missouri	Shelly Williamson	(573) 522-6228	shelly.williamson@health.mo.gov
Montana	Todd Boucher	(406) 444-2038	Tboucher3@mt.gov
Nebraska	Catherine Gekas Steeby	(402) 471-9058	Catherine.Gekassteeby@nebraska.gov
New Hampshire	Doreen Shockley	(603) 271-9011	Doreen.Shockley@dhhs.nh.gov
New Jersey	Jeanette Bergeron	(609) 826-3749	Jeanette.Bergeron@doh.nj.gov
New Mexico	Maurella Sooh	(505) 476-9039	Maurella.Sooh@state.nm.us
New York	Sheila McGarvey	(518)-408-1267	Sheila.Mcgarvey@health.ny.gov
Nevada	Leticia Metherell	(775) 684-1030	lmetherell@health.nv.gov
North Carolina	Becky Wertz	(919) 855-4580	Becky.Wertz@dhhs.nc.gov
North Dakota	Bridget Weidner MPH	(701) 328-2352	bweidner@nd.gov
Ohio	Amy Hogan	(614) 752-3076	Amy.Hogan@medicaid.ohio.gov
Oklahoma	Luvetta Abdullah	(405) 271-5278	LuvettaA@health.ok.gov
Oregon	Cathy Orias	(503) 373-2185	Catherine.M.Orias@dhsoha.state.or.us
Pennsylvania	Marion Boggs	(717) 724-6543	Mboggs@pa.gov
Rhode Island	Gretchen Bell	(401) 462-1501	Gretchen.Bell@ohhs.ri.gov
South Carolina	Mary Jo Roué	(803) 545-4293	Rouemj@dhec.sc.gov
South Dakota	Chris Qualm	(605) 773-5273	Chris.Qualm@state.sd.us
Tennessee	Shaquallah Shanks	(615) 741-6823	Shaquallah.Shanks@tn.gov
Texas	Vanessa M. Rios	(512) 707-6114	CmpApplication@hhsc.state.tx.us
Utah	Joel Hoffman	(801) 538-6559	Jhoffman@utah.gov
Vermont	Suzanne Leavitt	(802) 241-0346	Suzanne.Leavitt@state.vt.us
Virginia	Courtney Richter	(804) 225-4218	courtney.richter@dmas.virginia.gov
Washington	Candace Goehring	(360) 725-2401	Goehrcs@dshs.wa.gov
West Virginia	Tina Maher	(304) 558-0050	DHHROHFLACAdmin@wv.gov
Wisconsin	Pat Benesh	(608) 264-9896	Patricia.Benesh@wi.gov
Wyoming	Laura Hudspeth	307) 777-7123	Laura.Hudspeth@wyo.gov