To Reduce Risk in Value-Based Care, Focus on Care Quality
The key tenet of value-based care is that provider reimbursement is directly connected to care quality. Value-based arrangements stand in sharp contrast to how providers are compensated under fee-for-service models, which reward more revenues for more tests and procedures.
CMS Revises COVID-19 Vaccination Memos to Combine Survey Instructions as Infection Rates Decline
One of the revisions, highlighted in red, notes that “egregious noncompliance” such as more than half the staff unvaccinated, will be cited as a condition level deficiency. Instances of noncompliance where “good faith” efforts to comply are ongoing would only be a standard-level deficiency.
Executive Briefing: Medication Orders, Crash Carts, and Food Storage Lead Top Clinical Problems
Check patient units to ensure breast milk and other patient foods are stored correctly, encourage staff to reach out to providers if medication orders are not clear, and check crash carts for expired or missing items. Those are among some of the highest scored problems not associated with infection control or suicide prevention, according to findings by surveyors with The Joint Commission in the 12 months ending August 31.
PHE Renewed Again but Start Planning Now for Flexibility to End
The next renewal date would be on or before Wednesday, January 11, 2023. Just before the PHE was renewed in October, CMS published a blog “Creating a Roadmap for the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency,” with attached links to memos about the waivers for each provider type.
Discuss Any Revisions to Masking Policies With Your Staff, IC Experts
The CDC recently revised its guidance on COVID-19 universal masking, but consult with your staff and infection control experts before making changes to your organization policies. The guidance from CDC and CMS has been revised several times over the last few months, including the final days in September.
TJC Tweaks EC and LS standards, Adds Specifics to Some Requirements
Review your Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) policies and procedures now that The Joint Commission has issued another round of revisions, prepublished September 21 with an effective date of January 1, 2023. Only 12 standards are involved in this latest round. Many of the revisions add specifics to long-standing requirements, including several that add new notes under the element of performance (EP). Others are simple tweaks.
OSHA: Look for Final COVID Rule, Emerging Infectious Disease, Workplace Violence Standards
In addition to a final rule on COVID-19, the agency is working on standards covering emerging infectious diseases and workplace violence in healthcare, said OSHA’s Assistant Secretary of Labor Doug Parker in an address at the National Safety Council’s 2022 NSC Congress & Expo in San Diego.
Executive Briefing: TJC to Trim Requirements Starting January 1, 2023
TJC will be looking for requirements that are now obsolete or unnecessary, President and CEO Jonathan Perlin said, and will “eliminate standards and elements performance that don’t add commensurate value,” noting “that’s where the cost is, that’s where the burnout is.”
Survey Time: Check Your Ice Machine Outlets, Brush Up on IC, Staff Safety
The Joint Commission (TJC) is still catching up on the surveys backlogged during the COVID-19 pandemic—but they are catching up. Be aware that you might soon be getting a notice that your survey is scheduled, although you still won’t be told an exact date because CMS requires the visits to be unannounced.
CMS Revised Guidance Offers Nursing Homes Flexibility in Nurse Aide Training
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a revised guidance that will provide waivers to allow nursing homes to continue certifying TNAs beyond the deadline to keep staffing at safer levels. In the early days of the COVID-10 pandemic, CMS enacted several temporary public health emergency blanket waivers intended to provide healthcare providers needed flexibility to respond to the pandemic.