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.
TJC Offers New Compendium of Workplace Safety Resources
Much like the TJC’s other websites offering links to resources, the site breaks out the information into federal and TJC compendiums, that in turn offer different levels of work tools on healthcare worker care and safety. For instance, the resource links to TJC’s own workplace violence website, as well as federal healthcare staff-related resources from OSHA, the CDC and NIOSH.
CMS Revises Methodology for Calculating Staffing Star Rating
These measures, which have been posted on the CMS website for more than a decade, are used to calculate each nursing home’s star rating for the staffing section of the Nursing Home Five-Star Quality Rating System.
CMS Proposes to Cut Audio-Only Telehealth Coverage
The proposal imperils a service that had become popular during the pandemic, when health systems shifted in-person care to virtual channels to cut down on hospital traffic and reduce the spread of the virus. Thanks to federal and state waivers tied to the pandemic, healthcare providers were allowed to connect with patients on a telephone or other non-video platform for some healthcare services and be reimbursed for those services.
CMS Strengthens Guidance on EMTALA and Emergency Abortions
The reminder comes more than two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide. The memo also includes a note that hospitals and physicians may face civil financial penalty for denying patients emergency care.
CMS Updates IC Interpretive Guidelines for Hospitals
The long-awaited updates were among the many new requirements from its 2019 final rule burden reduction as well as other rules on discharge planning published just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CMS Updates IC, Other Survey Guidance for Long-Term Care Facilities
The Quality, Safety and Oversight Group memo, QSO-22-19-NH, outlines the updates, which are part of a White House effort announced earlier this year to improve safety and quality of care in nursing homes. The APIC alert also notes that CMS has online training for surveyors and nursing home stakeholders on CMS’ Quality, Safety, and Education Portal (QSEP).
CMS Eases Up on COVID-19 Vaccination Verification During Regular Surveys
Now that hospitals and other healthcare providers have had time to meet the CMS staff COVID-19 vaccination requirements, CMS is easing up on verification, according to a Quality, Safety and Oversight group memo posted Tuesday afternoon.