Home Health & Hospice Week

Survey citations can shut your doors in a heartbeat.

Whether it’s compliance with the current Home Health Conditions of Participation now or with new requirements starting Jan. 13, it’s important to keep on top of your shifting regulatory requirements.

Why? Failing to comply with the CoPs can bring crushing financial penalties that can quickly close your doors, warns attorney Robert Markette Jr. with Hall Render in Indianapolis.

Last September, the Department of Health & Human Services issued an interim final rule adjusting Civil Money Penalty amounts for inflation. Now, the “maximum daily penalty amount for each day a home health agency is not in compliance with statutory requirements” is a whopping $19,787, up from $10,000 previously, HHS specifies in the rule published in the Sept. 6, 2016, Federal Register.

At $20K per day, CMPs can quickly put agencies out of business, Markette says. Even at the previous, much lower levels, CMPs were already closing down HHAs after their July 2014 implementation (for two examples, see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXIV, No. 15).

Risk: Home care providers are grateful for the extra time to comply with the new CoPs. But they should realize they may see less leniency from surveyors after the implementation date, due to the extended prep time, Markette says.

Reminder: Acquiring accreditation through the deemed status process (i.e., from the Joint Commission or CHAP) instead of getting surveyed for compliance by state surveyors directly means you are exempt from alternative sanctions such as CMPs (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXIV, No. 15). Two exceptions are when the state initiates a survey based on a complaint received and when it conducts validation surveys, however.

Note: See the new CMP amounts for various home health survey offenses in the “42 CFR 488.845(b)” section of the “Calculation of CMP Adjustments” chart in the rule at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-09-06/pdf/2016-18680.pdf.