Home Health & Hospice Week

Regs encourage continuous level of compliance.

Home health agencies are on the dwindling list of provider groups that Medicare doesn’t require to have a QAPI program — but maybe not for long.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ survey regulations intend to serve some of the same functions as a Quality Assurance Perform-ance Improvement program, noted CMS’s Pat Sevast at a recent industry conference. Thanks to revisions over the years, Medicare survey and certification regs for HHAs put an emphasis on continued rather than cyclical compliance, she said.

CMS expects providers to "remain in substantial compliance with Medicare program requirements as well as state law," Sevast said. HHAs must "take the initiative and responsibility for monitoring performance to sustain compliance."

But HHAs may see QAPI requirements sooner than they think. QAPI regs are in final clearance now, Sevast said at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice meeting Nov. 1.