CMS is committed to taking critical steps to ensure America’s health care facilities continue to be prepared in response to COVID-19. QSO-20-35-ALL released August 17, 2020 outlines changes that are taking place with survey prioritization.
Key changes Include:
•CMS is revising guidance on the expansion of survey activities to authorize onsite revisits and other survey types.
•CMS is providing guidance to State Survey Agencies (SAs): on resolving enforcement cases that were previously directed to be held, and providing guidance on Civil Money Penalty (CMP) collection.
•Expanded Desk Review Authority: temporarily expanding the desk review policy to include review of continuing noncompliance following removal of Immediate Jeopardy (IJ), which would otherwise have required an onsite revisit from March 23, 2020, through May 31, 2020.
•CMS is also issuing updated guidance for the re-prioritization: of routine SA Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) survey activities, subject to the SA’s discretion, in addition to lifting the restriction on processing CLIA enforcement actions, and issuing the Statement of Deficiencies and Plan of Correction (Form CMS-2567). See attachment below.