June 2020 Work Force Newsletter

June 2020

Thompson Health Offering Online Certified Nursing Assistant Training Course

In partnership with Finger Lakes Community College, UR Medicine Thompson Health is offering a five-week online training course for individuals interested in becoming certified nursing assistants (CNAs) at the M.M. Ewing Continuing Care Center in Canandaigua.

Classes start Monday, June 22, and students will participate from home, using a desktop or laptop computer with a video camera. The classes are full-time, primarily Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Attendance is mandatory.

Thompson Health covers the full tuition, and participants each receive a lump sum of $1,800 while taking the class. They are hired into a CNA position at M.M. Ewing, a 178-bed skilled nursing facility. The position will most likely be part-time, on a specific unit, and will include weekends and holidays.

For more details and to apply for the course, visit www.ThompsonHealth.com/Careers and search “Employment Opportunities.”

CMS Issues Training and Certification Waivers 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has temporarily waived Training and Certification of Nurse Aides to assist with potential staffing challenges in Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The following training and certification regulations are waived:
- §483.35(d)(6) Required retraining
- §483.35(d)(7) Regular in-service education

For information on these and other SNF waivers, visit:
http://dmna.ny.gov/covid19/docs/all/DOH_COVID19_1135CNAWaiver_040420.pdf

Expanded Authority of Physician Assistants

Beginning June 17, under New York State Public Health law, physician assistants will have the authority to determine patient incapacity and to write do-not-resuscitate (DNR) and other orders to withhold and/or withdraw life-sustaining treatment.

For more information on the changes to physician assistants' roles in capacity determination and participation in signing Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (MOLST), visit: https://molst.org/ethics-laws/proposed-legislation/authority-of-physician-assistants-under-current-nys-law/

Upcoming Webinar: Buprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dr. Tiffany Lu, assistant professor of medicine, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein School of Medicine, will present regulatory updates regarding buprenorphine treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic, along with practice-level changes and common issues affecting patients.

The webinar will be live-streamed from 12 to 1 p.m. July 7.

Register here:
https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5647921/2020-07-07-Registration

New England Journal of Medicine: Ensuring and Sustaining a Pandemic Workforce

A recent Perspective article published in the New England Journal of Medicine addresses organizational and regulatory actions to effectively utilize and scale-up the healthcare workforce during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis, including telehealth and addressing unnecessary restrictions on professionals' scope of practice. 

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006376

Please share your health care workforce updates

If you have a training opportunity or workforce update you'd like us to share, you can send it to: melissa.pennise@commongroundhealth.org, and we will add it to the next newsletter.

Please share this newsletter with others in your organization who might benefit and encourage them to sign up to receive it. 
https://www.commongroundhealth.org/newsletter-sign-up