A new appendix in the State Operations Manual contains interpretive guidelines and survey procedures for the emergency preparedness final rule, which takes effect Nov. 15.
 
Appendix Z affects 17 types of health care providers including home health agencies, according to a June 2 memo provided to state survey agency directors. For agencies, this appendix is crucial to read because it’s the tool used to train surveyors and guide them when performing surveys, contends attorney Robert Markette of Indianapolis-based Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman.
 
It’s important for agencies to view the detail about how CMS understands and applies regulations, as the regulations aren’t always clear on what’s required, he adds.
 
“The guidelines also provide a significant amount of insight regarding the areas of concern for surveys, the questions they will ask and what they will be looking at during the survey,” he says. “This is extremely important to agencies as they try to prepare. It is one thing to know the regulations, but the interpretive guidelines provide a much greater amount of detail regarding what CMS and the surveyors think the regulations require.”
 
The “Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Emergency Preparedness Requirements for Medicare and Medicaid Participating Providers and Suppliers” final rule establishes national requirements so providers can adequately plan for natural and man-made disasters.
 
The rule is separate from the revised Home Health Conditions of Participation (CoPs), which are largely slated to take effect July 13 although CMS is expected to delay them until Jan. 13, 2018. CMS has not yet released interpretive guidelines for the revised CoPs. 
 
Related link: View the memo and appendix, which are 74 pages combined, at http://go.cms.gov/2rEh028.