Expect CMS to issue several long-awaited releases in the coming months – including a draft of OASIS-C1, additional guidance on how new survey sanctions will be implemented and revised conditions of participation for home health.
 
That was the message conveyed by several CMS staffers at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice’s March on Washington/Private Duty Home Care Integrated Conference & Exposition in Washington, D.C. on March 18.
 
The OASIS-C1 draft package is about to go to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a final review and will be published “soon,” said Patricia Sevast, a nurse consultant with CMS’ Survey & Certification Group. Once CMS publishes the package in the Federal Register, there will be a comment period, she added.
 
Agencies may see additional guidance on home health surveys even sooner. In the final 2013 PPS rule, CMS indicated it would publish interpretive guidance to clarify further when and how different survey sanctions can be imposed. Sevast reminded attendees that some of those sanctions will take effect as soon as July 1, implying that the guidance would have to be published before then. The sanctions taking effect this year are temporary management, directed plans of correction and directed in-service training.
 
For more in-depth coverage of the March on Washington conference, including data on the top survey deficiencies for home health and hospice, turn to the next issue of Home Health Line.