CMS Proposes to Delay Home Health Conditions of Participation

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule to extend the effective date for the home health Conditions of Participation (HHCoPs) from July 13, 2017 to Jan. 13, 2018. LeadingAge NY and others advocated strongly for a delay to prepare for the implementation of the sweeping new rules. Some had advocated for effective date time frames ranging from six months after publication of the final rule to five years. The most frequent recommendation received by CMS was to finalize the new CoPs one year after the final rule was posted. LeadingAge NY had advocated for a delay; however, we asked for a six-month delay after the revised Interpretive Guidelines were published.

CMS is also proposing two conforming changes to dates that appear in the regulations text of the final rule. First, they included a phase-in date for the requirements in §484.65(d)--“Standard: Performance improvement projects.” This phase-in date allowed HHAs an additional six months after the final rule was effective to collect data before implementing data-driven performance improvement projects. Now, with the proposed January 2018 start date, CMS is proposing to move the phase-in date to July 13, 2018. Second, CMS is proposing to revise §484.115(a)--“Standard: Administrator, home health agency.” In this provision, CMS proposes to grandfather in all administrators employed by HHAs prior to the effective date of the proposed January 2018 HHA CoPs final rule. This means that administrators employed by an agency prior to Jan. 13, 2018 would not have to meet the new personnel requirements.

LeadingAge NY will be working with LeadingAge National to submit comments in support of the delay, the phase-in period for implementing data-driven performance improvement projects, and grandfathering in administrators. If members want to submit comments, they are due 60 days from the April 4, 2017 publication date in the Federal Register, meaning they are due before June 2, 2017.

Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871