Ftag of the Week – F685 Treatment/Devices to Maintain Hearing/Vision

Welcome back to CMS Compliance Group’s “Ftag of the Week” Blog series. This week’s Ftag up for review is F685 Treatment/Devices to Maintain Hearing/Vision. This regulatory requirement mandates that providers ensure all residents receive the proper treatment and assistive devices required to maintain their hearing and vision. It also requires that the facility assists residents with making any related appointments and arrange for transportation to and from the doctor’s office that specializes in treating vision or hearing impairment or in the provision of associated assistive devices such as glasses, contacts and/or hearing aids.

While the regulation does not require facilities to provide the devices or conduct related evaluations, providers are tasked with assisting the resident/representative with locating and using available resources. This includes situations where the resident has lost his/her assistive device.

Ensuring that residents have the proper adaptive devices (and are actually using them as care planned) appears throughout the RoPs and Critical Element Pathways, so it’s important to ensure that residents receive appropriate treatment and providers assist them with obtaining any necessary devices to maintain their vision and hearing abilities. Take a peek at the Activities of Daily Living and Communication-Sensory Critical Element Pathways to assess your facility’s vulnerabilities.


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