Home Health & Hospice Week

Don’t look for enforcement remedies provisions, though.

The massive survey overhaul for hospices, which has been underway since high-profile reports about hospice care quality hit the mainstream press, has taken another step forward.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued revisions to State Operations Manual Appendix M and complementary revisions to the CMS Hospice Basic Surveyor Training, according to a Jan. 27 memo (QSO-23-08- HOSPICE) to state survey agencies.

“CMS has refined the hospice survey process to focus on quality-of-care findings in the survey process,” it says in the memo. “This approach prioritizes the surveyors’ time and attention to those elements that impact the quality of care provided directly to the patient and their family.”

Among the changes is “an enhanced Pre-Survey task to boost surveyors’ understanding of the hospice’s operations and provide a foundation for the onsite survey,” the memo notes. “Surveyors are directed to public media for potential concerns about the hospice, the hospice’s website, CMS Care Compare- Hospice, and prior survey reports for standard and complaint investigations.”

The Appendix M revision doesn’t include the enforcement remedy regulations, notes the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in its member newsletter.

The 196-page memo is at www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-23-08-hospice.pdf.