Skilled nursing facilities unable to provide data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ new quality reporting program will have a 90-day window to request an exception or extension, officials said during a recent SNF Open Door Forum call.
Written requests for data submission exceptions or extensions are required to be sent within 90 days of “extraordinary circumstances” that occur that would prevent data submission. The data submission deadline for CMS’ recently finalized quality measures is May 15, 2017.
The quality measures, announced as part of a barrage of policy changes for Medicare SNFs, include skin integrity and changes in skin integrity, changes in functional status and cognitive function and incidence of major falls. Providers who do not provide quality-indicator information by the deadline will face a 2% reduction to their fiscal year 2018 market basket payment.
CMS also provided an update to electronic staffing data submission guidelines. The definition of direct care worker, for the purpose of submitting staffing data, does not include workers who “maintain the physical environment,” like housekeeping, said Evan Shulman, deputy director of the Division of Nursing Homes at CMS. Other direct care positions, such as dietitians, are still being debated, he added.
From the September 01, 2015 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
