05/18/2023

Survey Tip of the Week: Survey Resources

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) maintains many surveyor resources on the CMS Nursing Home webpage and under the downloads section on this CMS webpage. Most notably is the Revision History for Long-Term Care (LTC) Survey Process document. This document provides a running list of which documents have changed and when. This assists providers in keeping abreast of changes to the survey process and requested documents by the surveyors. The CMS 20054- Infection Prevention Control and Immunization and CMS-20140 Arbitration survey pathways were both updated on May 12. The survey documents were updated to reflect the changes made by CMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the end of the public health emergency. The infection control pathway reflects changes to the sample selection and those changes can be easily identified through the red text. The current sample selection now states:

• Sample one staff, to verify compliance with staff-related requirements and national standards such as offering and educating on immunization and testing. (Select one staff from the COVID-19 Staff Vaccination Matrix.)
• Sample three residents on transmission-based precautions (TBP) for purposes of determining compliance with infection prevention and control national standards such as transmission-based precautions, as well as resident care, screening, testing, and reporting.
• Sample five residents for influenza, pneumococcal, and COVID-19 immunizations review.
• Sample eight staff (four staff and four contracted staff) for COVID-19 immunization review. One of these staff should be used to verify compliance with staff-related requirements and national standards, such as offering and educating on immunization and testing.

The survey pathways can be found on the CMS Nursing Home webpage and under the downloads section on this CMS webpage. LeadingAge continues to develop webinars and resources on the updated requirements of participation which will be located  on the LeadingAge learning hub. LeadingAge also continues to add QuickCasts on the regulatory groups. Updated resources have also been added on the Nursing Home RoP Tools and Resources webpage. 

For more information about the updated requirements of participation and citations occurring in Ohio, please join us on the monthly STAT: Survey Tips and Tactics call. Register now for the June 14 call at 11:00AM. LeadingAge Ohio is sharing tips to assist members during the survey process. Send questions you would like addressed in future Tips of the Week to Stephanie DeWees at sdewees@leadingageohio.org.