Evan Shulman, national Director of CMS’s Division of Nursing Homes, offered a Regulatory Update at the LeadingAge national conference in San Diego. Highlights:
- The Consumer Alert Icon is now live on Nursing Home Compare. The icon calls attention to nursing homes that have received citations relating to abuse. Shulman defended the agency’s policy, indicating that it offers consumers important information and that it affects just 5% of nursing homes nationally. In response to questioning about the appropriateness of the symbol CMS has chosen to use, he said it is time to “stop debating the icon” and to focus on work that prevents abuse from occurring.
- Shulman could not comment on the proposed rule to delay certain Phase 3 Requirements, except to say that CMS is reviewing public comments received during the rulemaking process.
- He would not give a date when CMS will release interpretive guidelines for the Phase 3 Requirements of Participation but stated that CMS will give surveyors and providers some reasonable, but not yet specified, period of time to study and implement the guidance after it is released.
- He implied that work on the proposed rule and finalization of the regulatory guidance are linked, saying CMS wants to coordinate the work so that surveyors and providers will have clear information about future regulatory expectations.
