By Will Blackford, Class of 2017

On January 13, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published in the Federal Register its Final Rule pertaining to the Conditions of Participation (“CoPs”) for home health agencies (“HHAs”). The rule represents the first modernization in over two decades of the fundamental requirements for HHA participation in Medicare and Medicaid, despite efforts in 1997 to revise the entire set of HHA CoPs. With enforcement of the new provisions beginning July 13, 2017, CMS has given HHAs a six-month window for adapting their policies, procedures, and practices to comply with the new standards.

The most significant changes under the Final Rule revolve around four categories:

• Patient Rights. CMS added an expansive CoP that sets forth the specific rights that HHAs owe each patient and the steps they must take to protect such rights.
• Care Planning. The final rule updates the comprehensive patient assessment requirement to focus on all aspects of patient wellbeing. It also requires that a HHA provide its patients with a written copy of the plan of care and utilize an integrated communication system to identify and coordinate care between the HHA and the patient’s physicians.
• Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement. To ensure continual evaluation and improvement of care for patients, CMS will now require that HHAs initiate a data-driven, agency-wide quality assessment and performance improvement (QAPI) program that is capable of measuring improvement in indicators that are linked to improvement in patient outcomes, safety and care quality.
• Infection and Prevention Control. The new infection prevention and control requirement that focuses on the use of standard infection control practices, and patient/caregiver education and teaching.

In addition to the modified care standards, CMS also refined the definition of “Representative” to expressly distinguish between a patient-selected representative and a legal representative with legal decision-making authority under the law. There are numerous updates throughout the Final Rule that are shaped by this two-tiered approach to representation.

To meet these new requirements, HHAs need to familiarize themselves with the Final Rule and analyze their current policies and procedures to formulate a plan for tackling implementation of these significant changes. Agencies that fail to comply with any of the new CoPs by the July 13, 2017 deadline are at risk of penalties ranging from imposition of sanctions for marginal issues, to program termination for major infractions.