The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has added a new item to its Work Plan. OIG plans to review the extent to which State Survey Agencies (SSAs) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have conducted on-site surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic. As you know, CMS suspected standard survey activity for a period of time, as well as on-site complaint surveys, restricting on-site inspections to infection control-related complaints as well as complaints potentially reaching an Immediate Jeopardy-level. OIG will use available survey data for all nursing homes across the United States to identity the extent to which on-site surveys for serious complaints and targeted infection control surveys were completed. The report for the topic “Nursing Home Oversight During the COVID-19 Pandemic” is expected in FY2021 and will also include identification of barriers that contributed to conducting on-site surveys in accordance with CMS guidance, as well as possible solutions.
