Providers will have to wait until the spring before receiving guidance on Phase 3 of the Requirements of Participation.
A November memo issued by officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revealed that interpretive guidance and training on Phase 3 requirements will be released during the “second quarter of 2020,” despite the regulations going into effect on Thanksgiving Day 2019.
The announcement came as a disappointment to providers.
“We all agree that quality nursing home care is important. Such murkiness from the top regulatory authority on Phase 3, the most complex and labor intensive of all three phases in terms of implementation, is disheartening,” Ruth Katz, LeadingAge’s senior vice president of policy and advocacy, told McKnight’s.
“It is challenging for our members to properly implement requirements without the release of the interpretive guidance,” added Sara Rudow, the American Health Care Association’s senior director for regulatory services and survey.
“The phase three requirements are substantive and complex. We look forward to CMS releasing the guidance as soon as possible.”
From the January 2020 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
