Long-Term Care Survey Alert

Wish someone would finally do something to improve the consistency and accuracy of surveys?

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is about to embark on a commissioned study that will examine these often reported problems with the survey process and suggest any needed policy and program changes.

CMS staff reportedly plans to award the contract for the three-year research project next month, as the contract must be finalized before the end of the federal fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Whatever the study uncovers, the American Health Care Association says it’s certain that provider differences in standards of care and practice could not explain the continuing wide variation in deficiency citations rates among the states.

“These factors also do not explain the trends in substandard quality of care findings, immediate jeopardy, substantial compliance and zero-deficiency surveys,” AHCA reports.