Access Washington Home



STATE OF WASHINGTON

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES

Aging and Long-Term Support Administration

Residential Care Services

R020-055 – INFORMATION

May 7, 2020

|TO: |RCS Regional Administrators |

| |RCS NH Field Managers |

| |RCS NH Surveyors and Complaint Investigators |

| |RCS Management Team |

| |RCS Compliance Specialists |

|FROM: |Candace Goehring, Director |

| |Residential Care Services |

|SUBJECT: |QSO-20-29-NH INTERIM FINAL RULE UPDATING REQUIREMENTS FOR NOTIFICATION OF CONFIRMED AND SUSPECTED COVID-19 |

| |CASES AMONG RESIDENTS AND STAFF IN NURSING HOMES |

|Purpose: |To inform RCS staff about new nursing home reporting and notification requirements announced by CMS related to|

| |COVID-19. |

|Background: |The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking steps to respond to the COVID-19 public health |

| |emergency. |

| |In a previous QSO memo (20-26-NH), CMS announced it was pursuing rule making related to reporting and |

| |notification requirements related to COVID-19. |

|What’s new, changed, or |On May 8, 2020, CMS will publish an interim final rule in the Federal Register with comment period (see |

|Clarified: |related references). A summary of the new rules: |

| |COVID-19 Reporting Requirements: CMS is requiring nursing homes to report COVID-19 facility data to the |

| |Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at least weekly. This is reflected in new section 42 CRR |

| |§483.80(g), and will be at F884 in Appendix PP. Federal surveyors (not state agency staff) will review F884 |

| |off-site. |

| |Failure to report in accordance with 42 CFR §483.80(g) can result in an enforcement action, including a civil |

| |money penalty. |

| |CMS will begin posting the data from CDC at the end of May for viewing by facilities, stakeholders, or the |

| |general public. The COVID-19 public use file will be available on . |

| |Reporting must begin by 11:59 PM on May 17, 2020 with an initial two-week grace period to begin reporting |

| |cases that ends at 11:59 p.m. on May 24, 2020. |

| |COVID-19 Notification to Residents and Families: CMS is requiring facilities to notify residents, their |

| |representatives, and families when the facility has suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. Notification |

| |must meet certain timelines and facilities must report to residents and families what they are doing to |

| |mitigate the transmission of COVID-19. This requirement will be located in F885 of Appendix PP, and review |

| |will be the responsibility of state and/or federal surveyors. |

| | |

| |Updated Survey Tools: CMS has updated the COVID-19 Focused Survey for Nursing Homes, Entrance Conference |

| |Worksheet, COVID-19 Focused Survey Protocol, and Summary of the COVID-19 Focused Survey for Nursing Homes to |

| |reflect COVID-19 reporting requirements. The updated documents are on the CMS Nursing Home webpage in the |

| |Survey Resources (COVID-19 Focused Survey subfolder). “COVID-19 Focused Survey for Nursing Homes,” the focused|

| |survey pathway, is attached to the QSO memo. |

| | |

| |Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): At the bottom of the QSO memo, CMS has attached a FAQ list regarding the |

| |new reporting and notification requirements. |

|ACTION: |RCS Staff will: |

| |Effective immediately, review the new rules and the updated COVID-19 Focused Survey documents. |

| |According to instructions, include requirements at F885 as part of your survey or investigation review. |

| |RCS Headquarters will: |

| |Notify providers about the QSO memo and the new reporting and notification requirements. |

|Related |The Federal Register website (Agency Docket: CMS-5531-IFC and Regulation ID Number (RIN): 0938-AU32). |

|REFERENCES: |QSO-20-29-NH |

| |Survey Resources (link to the CMS Nursing Home web page) |

|ATTACHMENTS: |Dear NH Administrator – ALTSA: NH #2020-032 |

|CONTACTS: |Lisa Herke, Nursing Home Policy Program Manager at (509) 209-3088 or lisa.herke@dshs.. |

-----------------------

STATE OF WASHINGTON

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES

Aging and Long-Term Support Administration

PO Box 45600, Olympia, WA 98504-5600

RCS MANAGEMENT BULLETIN

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download