CMS has decided to wait a year from Jan. 13 before imposing civil monetary penalties involving the revised Home Health Conditions of Participation (CoPs).
 
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) wrote CMS a letter asking for the CoPs to be delayed. In a response letter dated Nov. 3, CMS says that while it won't delay the implementation date, civil monetary penalties won’t be imposed for the first year for any recertification survey unless there was a situation resulting in immediate jeopardy.
 
The federal Medicare agency previously defined immediate jeopardy as a “situation in which the provider’s noncompliance with one or more requirements of participation has caused or is likely to cause serious injury, harm, impairment or death to a patient(s).”
 
Note: Agencies found to be in noncompliance with the revised CoPs in 2018 would still be cited on surveys, notes Mary Carr, NAHC's vice president for regulatory affairs.