CMS has issued blanket waivers (pdf) for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospice and end-stage renal disease facilities in areas of New Jersey and New York affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Individual facilities do not need to apply to CMS for these waivers.
The blanket waivers include the following:
• Bed capacity. Hospitals and nursing homes can process certified bed increases.
• Survey activities. CMS has suspended onsite survey activities, except for investigations of immediate jeopardy allegations, in areas impacted by the storm.
• Hospitalization. Skilled nursing facilities do not need a three-day prior hospitalization for coverage of a stay at the facility.
• Minimum Data Set timeframe. The timeframe requirements for Minimum Data Set assessments and transmission are waived for skilled nursing facilities.
• OASIS transmission timeframes. Outcome Assessment Information Set transmission timeframes are waived for all home health agencies.
• Home health supervision. Home health agencies are exempt from two week aide supervision requirements by a registered nurse.
• Hospice supervision. Hospice programs do not need supervision of hospice aides every 14 days by a registered nurse.
• Locations. Home health and hospice agencies may provide services in a shelter or alternate location for patients displaced by the storm.
• Dialysis. Service for end stage renal disease patients who cannot obtain their regularly scheduled dialysis treatment at a certified ESRD facility and have a medical need to receive an unscheduled or emergency dialysis session in an outpatient hospital setting is payable under the outpatient prospective payment system.
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Individual facilities do not need to apply to CMS for these waivers.
The blanket waivers include the following:
• Bed capacity. Hospitals and nursing homes can process certified bed increases.
• Survey activities. CMS has suspended onsite survey activities, except for investigations of immediate jeopardy allegations, in areas impacted by the storm.
• Hospitalization. Skilled nursing facilities do not need a three-day prior hospitalization for coverage of a stay at the facility.
• Minimum Data Set timeframe. The timeframe requirements for Minimum Data Set assessments and transmission are waived for skilled nursing facilities.
• OASIS transmission timeframes. Outcome Assessment Information Set transmission timeframes are waived for all home health agencies.
• Home health supervision. Home health agencies are exempt from two week aide supervision requirements by a registered nurse.
• Hospice supervision. Hospice programs do not need supervision of hospice aides every 14 days by a registered nurse.
• Locations. Home health and hospice agencies may provide services in a shelter or alternate location for patients displaced by the storm.
• Dialysis. Service for end stage renal disease patients who cannot obtain their regularly scheduled dialysis treatment at a certified ESRD facility and have a medical need to receive an unscheduled or emergency dialysis session in an outpatient hospital setting is payable under the outpatient prospective payment system.
More Articles on Hurricane Sandy:
Hospitals May Apply for Quality Reporting Waivers, Extensions Following Hurricane SandyRising Above Hurricane Sandy: Q&A With Hackensack University Health Network President and CEO Robert C. Garrett
Bellevue Hospital in NYC Evacuates Remaining 375 Patients