The Biden Administration has announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will heighten oversight of poor-performing skilled nursing facilities, including at least one in North Carolina.
The goal is to crack down on locations where patients are suffering unnecessarily.
The Administration says changes include:
The announced changes include:
- Making improved quality throughout a facility, rather than a lower level of deficiencies, key to completing the program and escaping its penalties and stigma.
- As in the case of Accordius Health at Statesville, pulling vital federal funding. Under new standards, this denial can take place at an earlier point, when a center is cited for two separate instances of “immediate jeopardy” of the life or health of residents.
- Escalating enforcement, meaning a more severe regimen for SFF Program facilities that “have continued noncompliance and little or no demonstrated effort to improve performance.”
- The new focus on staffing levels as a factor in the decision by state regulators on choosing a facility for the program.
The full story from NC Health News is available by clicking here.