We mentioned in an April 23, 2014 blog post that CMS is piloting two new survey types, with one focusing on dementia care practices and the other on MDS accuracy. The Agency noted that it planned to conduct two short-term focused reviews of the survey processes in these areas and that five State Agencies had been selected to participate in the initiative.
It has come to our attention that New York is one of the states that has been selected to be part of this extremely small pilot program for a dementia-focused survey. To provide clarification to our clients who found this to be of potential concern, the following criteria apply to New York’s pilot:
- Only 5 surveys will be done throughout the entire state and they are expected to be completed by the end of September.
- The only facilities that can be selected for this focused survey are those that have 120-175 beds
- The facilities that meet the size criteria must also have more than 30 residents who have been diagnosed with dementia
These surveys will be conducted by DOH surveyors, with the exception of one facility where a federal surveyor will also participate in the process. The surveys will not be considered part of the annual certification cycle and will be unannounced. This survey process will include a detailed review of dementia care in nursing homes, including resident-level and organization-level process reviews. At the conclusion of this pilot test, CMS hopes to be able to streamline the current survey process and give surveyors a better way to accurately identify and cite deficient practices related to dementia care.
We will provide additional information about the conclusion of this small sample pilot test for nursing homes in New York State as well as the other participating states. We expect that additional surveyor guidance will be posted after all of the results have been compiled, which will be in the fall.
If your facility does not want to wait to see what potential changes may be made to the survey process related to dementia care, CMS Compliance Group can help. Contact us today to learn more.