Manual entry of staffing hours will continue to allow up to a maximum of 24 hours/day until April 1, 2026 without causing a fatal error. After April 1, 2026, the maximum hours/day allowed will be 22.5 hours.

Nursing homes should view recent press coverage on antipsychotic use as part of an ongoing public discussion, not as confirmation of imminent policy change. LeadingAge will continue to monitor developments closely and provide updates if and when CMS signals concrete action.

The updates do not include any new policies, but rather reflect existing policies that previously were not included in the SOM.

CMS has released updates to the State Operations Manual that impact complaint procedures and nursing home survey and enforcement processes. The updates are said to be consistent with existing policies previously released through QSO memos and represent no new changes to current policies.

Updates include new recommendations for State Survey Agencies to consider the prevalence of falls when selecting a nursing home from the SFF candidate list and clarification that standard health inspections will be completed in SFFs at least once every six months (no less than twice annually), while Life Safety Code and Emergency Preparedness surveys will be conducted at least annually. In addition, selection for the SFF candidate list will now be based on the past two standard health inspections rather than the past three standard surveys.

The Nursing Home Care Compare January quarterly refresh has been delayed until Feb. 5^th due to a data issue.

LeadingAge NY remains committed to supporting providers with up‑to‑date guidance on DOH survey expectations, particularly related to the most often cited deficiencies of last year.

CMS has begun notifying SNFs that they have been selected to participate in the data validation process. The first notification letters were issued through iQIES on Jan. 12^th to a portion of the 1,500 SNFs that will be selected throughout the year.