CMS has released a significant update to the guidance to surveyors for home health agencies.
 
Released Friday, March 15, the revised State Operations Manual Appendix B adds more 25 pages to the existing 92-page text.
CMS offered this general summary of the changes:
  • Retires CMS memos that are no longer applicable or have been incorporated into Appendix B.
  • Adds the survey protocol for HHAs to Part I of Appendix B. Appendix B replaces older CMS memos that we are retiring and describes the requirements and procedures for conducting an HHA survey.
  • Revises the Level 1 standards that surveyors must assess during a standard survey. Added three Emergency Preparedness tags to Level 1 standards. A partial extended survey is conducted when noncompliance is identified in any Level 1 Standard.
  • CMS no longer identifies specific Level 2 standards; instead, when noncompliance with a Level 1 standard is identified, all remaining standards within the relevant CoP are evaluated and a determination must be made as to the compliance with the condition.
  • Revises tags to reflect updated regulatory language based on final rules and adds interpretive guidance where appropriate.
  • Consolidates tags to remove redundancy.
  • Adds survey procedures to multiple tags to assist surveyors in assessing compliance with the regulatory requirements.
  • Adds a cross-reference to Appendix Z for the HHA emergency preparedness tags.
  • Makes multiple technical and formatting revisions to fix regulatory citations, acronyms and tag titles.
See the updated survey guidance at https://tinyurl.com/ydcmr5y5.
 
We’ll have analysis and insight in upcoming issues of Home Health Line.