Jan 18 -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invites comments to OMB by March 2, 2023 regarding its request for approval for the Home Health Agency Survey and Deficiencies Report. [Comments due 30 days after submission to OMB on January 31.]
The CMS-1572 form is used by State Survey Agencies (SAs) when surveying Home Health Agencies (HHAs) and to collect information about an HHA. These regulations were created by CMS under the authority of sections 1861(o) and 1891 of the Social Security Act (“the Act”).
In the Medicare and Medicaid programs, CMS is responsible for developing Conditions of Participation (CoPs) that facilities must meet to become eligible to receive Medicare payments. State survey agencies (SAs) conduct on-site surveys of Home Health Agencies (HHAs) to ensure that HHA facilities are in compliance with these requirements.
Surveys of HHA providers are intended to ensure and strengthen patient health and safety, to enhance quality of care by emphasizing outcomes rather than process, to implement the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA 87), and to achieve more effective compliance with Federal requirements. The CMS-1572 HHA survey form reflects this fundamental change and directs surveyors to observe and monitor the provision of care in the home setting. HHA surveyors use the CMS-1572 form to assist and direct them in evaluating important information relating to the quality of services provided HHAs in the home setting. Moreover, the CMS-1572 form represents a deficiency-based approach to evaluating and reporting compliance.
This is a request to revise form CMS-1572 by adding fillable text or check blocks to each data field, thus converting it to a fillable .pdf format. A previous version of the CMS-1572 form had been in a fillable format. However, when it was revised in the past, it was placed into a non-fillable format. We also added a new selection to item #7.
The regulations at 42 CFR Part 484, Subparts A, B, and C, contain the conditions of participation (CoPs) that HHAs must meet or exceed in order to participate in the Medicare program. HHAs participating in the Medicaid program must also meet the general Medicare CoPs, as per the CMS regulations at 42 CFR 440.70(d). Surveyors, who determine whether HHAs are in compliance with these CoPs and statutory requirements, focus on the actual delivery of care and the results of that care when making certification decisions.
The CMS-1572 survey form captures data about each HHA provider’s characteristics, such as: (1) whether the facility is a private facility, a unit of a larger facility or a location of a corporate chain of facilities; (2) if the facility operated other branches; (3) has there been a change of ownership since the last survey; (4) the type of services offered; (5) the credentials of the director; (6) the credentials of other staff members; (7) the patient census since the last survey (including number of admissions & discharges); (8) the patient population.
Home Health Agency (HHA) Center:
https://www.cms.gov/center/provider-type/home-health-agency-hha-center
CMS submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202301-0938-012 Click IC List for information collection instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this webpage.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-00879
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806