Logic doesn’t always prevail…a luxury you can’t afford!
By my observations over time, I’ve found that, all-too-often, logic finishes a distant third behind self-interest (which sometimes manifests itself as crimes of convenience) and panic. Unfortunately, if you currently work in the healthcare industry, you must cling to the bastion of logic as those “other” winds threaten to pull you under.
But sometimes even bureaucracies manage to act judiciously; the good folks at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have elected to curtail some of their “regular” survey activities to afford healthcare organizations the opportunity to focus on COVID-19 preparedness (you might want to bookmark the CMS FAQ page—they’ll be updating frequently). While this doesn’t mean CMS is going to halt all survey activity, it outlined how it would be prioritizing survey activities over the next little while:
Effective immediately, survey activity is limited to the following (in priority order):
- All immediate jeopardy complaints (cases that represent a situation in which entity noncompliance has placed the health and safety of recipients in its care at risk for serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment, or death or harm) and allegations of abuse and neglect
- Complaints alleging infection control concerns, including facilities with potential COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses
- Statutorily required recertification surveys (Nursing Home, Home Health, Hospice, and ICF/IID facilities)
- Any revisits necessary to resolve current enforcement actions
- Initial certifications
- Surveys of facilities/hospitals that have a history of infection control deficiencies at the immediate jeopardy level in the last three years
- Surveys of facilities/hospitals/dialysis centers that have a history of infection control deficiencies at lower levels than immediate jeopardy
While that does narrow down the field somewhat, those last two possibilities might be well-served by digging out any survey reports from the past couple of years to see if there are any IC-related issues lurking in the weeds.
According to the information provided to surveyors, the aim is to keep on-site survey time to no more than two days, with a particular focus on (you guessed it!) infection control, particularly as it relates to COVID-19 preparedness. You can see the meat and potatoes of the CMS memos to providers here:
- https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-12-allpdf.pdf-1
- https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-13-hospitalspdf.pdf-2
- https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-14-nhpdf.pdf
As a final note for this week’s entertainment, our friends at ASHE have dedicated a webpage to provide COVID-19 information and resources; some of the materials require membership to access, but this is probably another page you’ll want to visit regularly as the next few weeks unfold.
About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Greeley Company in Danvers, Mass. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is also a contributing editor for Healthcare Safety Leader. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.