MDS Alert

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released myriad paperwork, environment, transportation, isolation, cost reporting, and telehealth changes for healthcare providers, including many specific to nursing homes, during the COVID-19 outbreak.

CMS says the goals of these changes are:

1.“To ensure that local hospitals and health systems have the capacity to handle a potential surge of COVID-19 patients through temporary expansion sites (also known as CMS Hospital Without Walls);

2. “Remove barriers for physicians, nurses, and other clinicians to be readily hired from the community or from other states so the healthcare system can rapidly expand its workforce;

3. “Increase access to telehealth in Medicare to ensure patients have access to physicians and other clinicians while keeping patients safe at home;

4. “Expand in-place testing to allow for more testing at home or in community-based settings;” and

5. “Put Patients Over Paperwork to give temporary relief from many paperwork, reporting and audit requirements so providers, health care facilities, Medicare Advantage and Part D plans, and States can focus on providing needed care to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries affected by COVID-19.”

See a summary of all the nursing-home-related changes here at www.cms.gov/files/document/covid-long-term-care-facilities.pdf.