04 Apr
Fixes for the “Broken” Nursing Home Star Ratings Part 1: Survey
Source: CMS It’s not a surprise to see Nursing Homes in the news, and it’s usually not to paint a sunny picture. Issues related to COVID-19 have understandably dominated much of the recent coverage, but a March article in the New York Times took aim at a different target – CMS’s Star Ratings system. Articles […]
01 Feb
Infection Control Deficiencies Showing Outsized Impact on Survey Star Rating
Source: CMS As we reported in December, CMS recently announced that the results of Focused Infection Control Surveys (FICs) conducted during the pandemic would be included in the Health Inspection (Survey) domain of the Five-Star program for Nursing Home ratings. This reversed course from a previous statement that these deficiencies would not contribute to Five […]
16 Oct
Covid-19 and Nursing Homes: Controlling Community Spread
With their high concentrations of vulnerable residents, Nursing Homes are particularly susceptible to outbreaks of Covid-19. Countless news stories have documented the ravages of the disease among seniors in these facilities, with the death toll registering over 58,000 by the end of September per CMS data. The effort to safeguard Nursing Home residents has been […]
06 Aug
New Infection Control Fines: Knowing What To Expect
On June 1, CMS outlined the details of the enforcement actions or penalties that can be levied against facilities for their performance on the new Targeted Infection Control Surveys. We’ve written before about issues with past Infection Control deficiencies and about the new IC Surveys, but now, the two combined can be a significant liability […]
16 Jun
CMS Releases Targeted Infection Control Survey Results
In a memo dated March 23, CMS announced a freeze on standard Survey activity and a requirement for states to focus on Targeted Infection Control Surveys and Complaint Surveys at the Immediate Jeopardy level. On April 24, another memo outlined that no Survey conducted after March 4 would be used to change a facility’s Survey […]
16 Jun
CMS Releases Nursing Home COVID-19 Data
Since May 8, all Skilled Nursing Facilities have been required to report various COVID-19 related data to the CDC and CMS via the CDC’s website. The data points include: Resident beds and census Suspected and confirmed COVID-19 infections among residents and staff Total deaths and COVID-19 deaths among residents and staff Access to COVID-19 testing […]
06 May
April 2020 CMS Updates
CMS released its monthly updates today, and with them, some major changes as a result of Covid-19. Per CMS's memo on March 23rd, most normal Survey activity has...