CMS Forum: HOPE Tool Updates
Earlier in February and prior to the February 26 forum–the first hosted by the agency in over a year–LeadingAge had shared specific concerns with CMS and their contractor on the HOPE tool implementation process and needed guidance changes. Read more here.
NEW On the LeadingAge Learning Hub: Are You Truly Storm Ready?
As we head into spring, LeadingAge has partnered with Pathway Health to provide members with a new resource for emergency planning. Now live on the LeadingAge Learning Hub, “Are You Truly Storm Ready?” walks participants through how to move beyond written emergency plans to ensure operational readiness before severe weather hits. This 17-minute QuickCast is free for LeadingAge members and best suited for nursing home and assisted living settings. Check it out here.
CMS Reportedly Re-examining Antipsychotics Position
The Washington Post reported on antipsychotic usage in nursing homes on March 6 with the headline “Should the practice of sedating the elderly in nursing homes be loosened?” The article highlighted multiple examples of potentially inappropriate prescribing, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’s) practices to identify and reduce antipsychotic usage in nursing homes, and various stakeholder responses. Many of the “industry” responses were actually the work of Project PAUSE, an ad hoc coalition in which LeadingAge participates.
Project PAUSE has successfully advocated for report language to be included in Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations to direct the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to re-evaluate “black box warnings” and to direct the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) / CMS to revise antipsychotics quality measures to better distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate prescribing. Project PAUSE has also advocated directly to CMS for these changes. Read more about Project PAUSE and keep up to date with coalition activities here.
