The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued stricter requirements for COVID-19 testing in nursing homes, making routine staff testing a requirement for participation in Medicare and Medicaid, and rolling out fines as high as $8,000 per instance of noncompliance.
CMS directed state surveyors to perform inspections to ensure that providers comply with the new regulations, issuing fines exceeding $400 per day or $8,000 per individual infraction.
Nursing homes must now also provide tests to residents during all outbreaks, as well as when residents show any symptoms of the viral infection. The exact frequency of the required employee testing will depend on the level of COVID-19 infections in a facility’s surrounding community, according to CMS.
All nursing facilities that receive a point-of-care testing unit from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be required to report diagnostic results as mandated under the CARES Act.
According to the CMS Administrator Seema Verma, “These new rules represent a dramatic acceleration of our efforts to track and control the spread of COVID-19. Reporting of test results and other data are vitally important tools for controlling the spread of the virus and give providers on the front lines what they need to fight it.” (To read the entire article, visit https://skillednursingnews.com/2020/08/cms-implements-stricter-covid-19-testing-requirements-fines-for-nursing-homes/)
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Nursing homes are required to implement new COVID-19 testing requirements for residents and employees. Failure to follow those requirements may result in fines that exceed $400 per day or $8,000 per individual infraction and may jeopardize a facility’s ability to participate in Medicare and Medicare reimbursement programs.
Discussion Points
- Review policies and procedures to ensure that newly issued COVID-19 testing requirements for residents and employees are implemented.
- Train staff about the new COVID-19 testing requirements for residents and employees.
- Periodically audit to ensure that newly issued COVID-19 testing requirements are being followed.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC view: MAINTAINING PROPER INFECTION CONTROL PROCEDURES.
