Big News: CMS Wants to Cut Regulatory Requirements in LTC

In a sweeping set of proposed changes released late on Nov. 5, CMS said it wants to cut administrative requirements in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, including a number of regulations for the LTC sector.

Called the “Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Cutting Administrative Requirements for Excellence in Patient Care (CARE) (CMS-3484-P)” proposal, the agency said, “This rule proposes regulatory revisions to the Conditions of Participation (CoPs), Conditions for Coverage (CfCs), and Requirements for Participation for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating providers and suppliers (collectively referred to as CoPs).”

CMS said these revisions would reduce costs, increase transparency, enhance flexibility for providers to deliver innovative patient care, and streamline existing regulations.

“It also proposes to rescind certain Medicaid institutional payment transparency reporting requirements to reduce burden for states and institutional providers,” CMS said.

Collectively, CMS estimates the proposals would save $320 million, returning more than 3.26 million hours of staff time to providers.

The proposed rule would alleviate what CMS called “unnecessary regulatory burden through deregulation in” the following ways for LTC facilities:

• Remove the COVID-19 vaccine requirements related to educating staff about the benefits and risks, offering the vaccine, and documenting these actions.

  
  

• Streamline the remaining COVID-19 vaccine requirements for residents.

  
  

• Remove the continuing respiratory illness data reporting requirement while retaining the requirement for specific reporting during a future Secretary-declared public health emergency (PHE).

  
  

• Modify the requirement for LTC facilities to provide a state ombudsman with notice of resident transfers related to emergent care.

  
  

• Revise the requirements for the active involvement of representatives of direct care staff in conducting the LTC facility assessment.

  
  

• Revise the physical environment requirements to exempt existing facilities from the room occupancy and bathroom facility standards.

More information on this article will be coming.

Comments or Questions? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.