Health Law Daily Wrap Up, CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION—OIG REPORT: State agency properly verified corrections of nursing home deficiencies, (Mar 24, 2017)
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (state agency) properly verified nursing homes’ correction of deficiencies identified during surveys in calendar year (CY) 2014 in accordance with federal requirements. Because the state agency properly verified that the deficiencies were corrected, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) had no recommendations (OIG Report, A-07-16-03217, March 24, 2017).
Federal requirements. Nursing homes participating in Medicare and Medicaid must meet the conditions of participation, including quality of care, nursing services, and infection control. The state agency must conduct standard surveys at least once every 15 months to determine whether nursing homes are in compliance with the participation requirements. A nursing home that is not in compliance with participation requirements, would have a deficiency. Nursing homes are required to submit correction plans for approval to CMS or their state agency for certain deficiencies identified during surveys. The state agency must verify the correction of identified deficiencies by obtaining evidence of correction or through onsite reviews.
Identified deficiencies. The state agency identified 3,281 deficiencies that required a correction plan during CY 2014. The OIG did not review 1,143 deficiencies that that were not directly related to resident health services or had ratings that did not require verification of correction. The remaining deficiencies required the state agencies to verify correction either by obtaining evidence of corrections or conducting a follow up survey.
Findings. The OIG selected a stratified random sample of 100 deficiencies and reviewed state agency documentation to determine whether the state agency had verified the nursing homes’ correction of the sampled deficiencies. The OIG also interviewed state agency officials and employees about survey operations, quality assurance, and training. The OIG found that the state agency properly verified that the deficiencies in all 100 sampled deficiencies were corrected. Therefore, the OIG concluded that the state agency had verified the nursing homes’ corrections of deficiencies in accordance with the law.
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