10/31/2019

CMS Addresses Hand Icon, Phase III at LeadingAge Annual Meeting

Providers shouldn’t be focusing on the new Nursing Home Compare consumer alert icon, but rather should be concentrating on stopping abuse in long-term care facilities, said Evan Shulman, director of the division of nursing homes at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at a session focused on nursing facility regulatory issues at the LeadingAge Annual Meeting in San Diego. “Let’s stop debating the icon and let’s start focusing on preventing abuse so that we are compelled in the future to take another look at it because we’ve done such a good job at it.” Shulman made the comments via live video link-up from CMS offices in Baltimore. 

Providers have called on CMS to rethink the consumer alert icon symbol, which features an open palm in a red circle. The icon is not expected to change, based on Shulman’s comments. 

Shulman noted that the icon only applies to facilities that meet certain criteria: facilities that have been cited for ‘G’ harm or higher in the past year’s cycle, or those that have been cited for ‘D’ or higher in each of the last two years.

“Put that together and you get about less than 5% of facilities across the country who have the abuse icon,” Shulman said, or 763 facilities nationwide. 

Shulman also addressed the much-anticipated guidance on Phase 3 of the Requirements of Participation, announcing that CMS currently has no date for when it will be released. Phase 3 goes into effect November 28, leaving many providers anxious.

He acknowledged that providers and surveyors both need time to implement and adjust survey process based on the guidance. He added CMS isn’t expecting both parties to immediately be able to implement some of the nuances of the guidance once it’s released. 

However, providers are still expected to comply with Phase 3 once implementation day rolls around, he noted. 

“We expect there will be an appropriate amount of time for providers and surveyors to implement the guidance,” he said. 

In other news from Day 3 at the LeadingAge annual meeting and convention:

• LeadingAge introduced Carol Silver Elliot as its incoming chair Tuesday. Silver Elliot is the president and CEO of the New Jersey-based Jewish Home Family and previously served as CEO of Ohio’s Cedar Village.

“Ageism must be attacked and we must lead,” she told an estimated 4,000 or more meeting attendees. “Ageism is insidious and its impact is very real,” affecting philanthropy and policy. 

•   The association also announced key future meeting dates, among them;

• The next LeadingAge Leadership Summit will be April 20-22, 2020, in Washington.
• The Collaborative Care HIT Summit is slated for June 14-16 in Washington.
• The 2020 annual meeting will be held Nov. 4-7 in San Antonio, with a special Wednesday to Saturday to allow attendees to be at home for election day, Tuesday.

(Source: McKnights Long-Term Care News)