CMS issued an advance copy of revisions to Appendix P of the SOM for Medication Pass Observation for Traditional Surveys in a memo (Ref:S&C: 13-36-NH) dated June 7, 2013. The agency notes that in order to make surveyors more efficient, the number of medication observations that will be required to calculate a long term care facility’s med error rate during a Traditional Survey has been revised to a minimum of 25 medication administration opportunities. For Traditional Surveys, if errors are detected in the first 20-25 observations, it is no longer required that the med pass observation be extended for another 20-25 observations. This change will match the Traditional Survey process to that of the Quality Indicator Survey (QIS), since the QIS Medication Administration Observation sample size was decreased to a minimum of 25 observations as well.
Changes for Sub-Task 5E, Medication Pass Observation Protocol for LTC Facilities
