In a new Admin memo dated October 4, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Fiscal Year 2019 Mission and Priority Document (MPD), which is the document that governs the work the QSO group and CMS ROs and SAs complete for the year. There are several items of note to be aware of for the QSO Survey & Certification Activities.
- Home Health Agencies – CMS plans to implement a new survey process for HHAs in FY2019. Every HHA must be surveyed at least every 36.9 months.
- Hospice Agencies – CMS notes that Medicare-certified hospices must be surveyed “no less frequently than every 36 months.”
- Long Term Care Facilities – CMS stated that all states are using the LTCSP, the new Ftags and the Long-Term Care Survey Procedure Guide for citing non-compliance. What is also important to note is that CMS states that it will have additional focused dementia-care surveys conducted in FY2019 related to the inappropriate late-life diagnosis of schizophrenia and the use of antipsychotics. Related to antipsychotics, CMS reiterated its goal of reducing the antipsychotic use rate by 15% by the end of 2019 for the facilities that are deemed to still have high usage rates.
- The Nurse Aide Training Registry is a line item for the MPD, with CMS stating that all states are required to maintain this registry, but more importantly, that states are required to investigate allegations of resident abuse and neglect by nurse aids or other staff members.
- Civil Monetary Penalty Tool – The updated CMP tool’s associated policies are still being refined.
The document also includes Tier prioritizations for survey intervals by provider types, and prioritization of survey types.
Read the full Admin Info memo, “Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Mission & Priority document (MPD) – Action” (Admin Info: 19-01-ALL).