{"id":406,"date":"2021-04-08T11:24:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T17:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihcca.org\/home\/?p=406"},"modified":"2026-01-02T12:32:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T19:32:48","slug":"tweet-from-post-acute-advisor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/tweet-from-post-acute-advisor\/","title":{"rendered":"Tweet from Post Acute Advisor"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"406\" class=\"elementor elementor-406\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-163b0140 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"163b0140\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7ed07d01\" data-id=\"7ed07d01\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-714bf4eb elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"714bf4eb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<h2>CMS updates emergency preparedness survey guidance and pandemic best practices<\/h2>\n\n<p>By Greg Hambrick\u00a0Mar 31, 2021\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/postacuteadvisor.blr.com\/category\/news\/home-health\/\">Home Health<\/a><\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" class=\"wp-image-15521\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.blr.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/03\/shutterstock_1726360693.jpg?w=843&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<p>CMS released updated guidance for surveyors related to emergency preparedness requirements on Friday, March 26, incorporating changes to the rules in recent years and lessons learned from the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/files\/document\/qso-21-15-all.pdf\">\u201cUpdated Guidance for Emergency Preparedness \u2013 Appendix Z of the State Operations Manual\u201d<\/a>\u00a0detailed changes made through the Burden Reduction Rule (84 FR 51732) in September 2019.<\/p>\n\n<p>An overview from CMS noted the regulatory changes in the rule included:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Emergency program<\/strong>: Decreasing the requirements for providers to conduct an annual review of their emergency program to a biennial review.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Emergency plan<\/strong>: Eliminating the requirement that the emergency plan include documentation of efforts to contact local, tribal, regional, state<del>,<\/del>\u00a0and federal emergency preparedness officials and a facility\u2019s participation in collaborative and cooperative planning efforts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Training Requirement:<\/strong>\u00a0Decreasing the training requirement from annually to every two years.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Testing Requirement:<\/strong>\u00a0For outpatient providers, decreasing the requirement for facilities to conduct two testing exercises to one testing exercise annually.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Added guidance on infectious diseases<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>The update also includes expanded \u201cinterpretive guidance\u201d regarding best practices on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs).CMS notes some of the new guidance surrounding EIDs is considered recommendations, not requirements.<\/p>\n\n<p>According to CMS, the updated guidance:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clarified expectations surrounding documentation of the emergency program.<\/li>\n<li>Added guidance\/considerations for EID planning to include personal protective equipment (PPE).<\/li>\n<li>Added guidance on risk assessment considerations, to include EIDs.<\/li>\n<li>Included planning considerations for potential patient surges and staffing needs.<\/li>\n<li>Expanded guidance for surge planning due to natural disasters and EIDs.<\/li>\n<li>Included recommendations during PHE\u2019s for facilities to monitor Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health agencies, which may issue event-specific guidance and recommendations to healthcare workers.<\/li>\n<li>Added planning considerations for hospices during EIDs outbreaks.<\/li>\n<li>Expanded guidance and added clarifications related to alternate care sites and 1135 Waivers.<\/li>\n<li>Expanded guidance on the identification and use of best practices related to reporting of facility needs, the facility\u2019s ability to provide assistance and occupancy reporting.<\/li>\n<li>Revised guidance related to training and testing program as the Burden Reduction Rule extensively changed these requirements, especially for outpatient providers.<\/li>\n<li>Clarified testing exercise exemptions when a provider\/supplier experiences an actual emergency event.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/postacuteadvisor.blr.com\">Visit Post-Acute Advisor website<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CMS updates emergency preparedness survey guidance and pandemic best practices By Greg Hambrick&nbsp;Mar 31, 2021&nbsp;Home Health CMS released updated guidance for surveyors related to emergency&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_eb_attr":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"admin@ihcca.org","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/author\/adminihcca-org\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ihcca.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}