In a new S&C letter dated August 19, 2016, CMS provides a set of revisions to the State Operations Manual Appendix I. This guidance is for Life Safety Code (LSC) surveyors. The two changes include:
- A portion of SOM Appendix I, Task 4 – Information Gathering had been inadvertently removed from the guidance to surveyors in 2014. The language has been added back into the SOM with no changes.
- With regards to SOM Appendix I, Task 6 – Exit Conference, this section has been revised to include the reminders about exit conference procedures that CMS issued in March 2016. The guidance to surveyors issued in March, “Exit Conferences – Sharing Specific Regulatory References or Tags” (Ref: S&C 16-11-ALL)., reminds surveyors about what information can be provided to facilities at the exit conference. LSC surveyors should not make specific comments about the facility’s condition, but should use facts and cite problems that are in clear violation of regulatory requirements. Surveyors may not tell the provider that conditions/standards were not met. Surveyors are told to caution the facility that coding information is preliminary.
Read CMS S&C letter “Revisions to State Operations Manual (SOM), Appendix I” (Ref: S&C: 16-35-LSC) on the CMS website.
