New Finalized Conditions of Participation (CoPs) for CHHAs
LeadingAge National conducted a Home Health Agency (HHA) member-only call on the new HHA Conditions of Participation (CoPs) on Mon., Jan. 23rd. This follows the Jan. 9th press release in which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced finalizing the rules governing HHAs in hopes that it will improve the quality of health care services and strengthen patients’ rights. We have been waiting decades for changes to the CoPs.
In October of 2014, CMS proposed sweeping changes to the CoPs. This was attempted in 1997, but the only changes were to the OASIS regulations. LeadingAge National convened a call in 2014 with other LeadingAge state affiliates to comment on the proposed changes. LeadingAge National submitted comments, as did LeadingAge NY. It is interesting to note that of the over 12,000 HHAs nationwide, only 199 entities commented on the proposed rule.
Some of the areas covered during our HHA member-only call included:
• History of the CoPs since 1997;
• Comments on the proposed rule;
• Final Rule - January 2017, with implementation in July 2017;
• Minor Language Changes / Terminology;
• Person Centered Care;
• Plan of Care, comprehensive assessment;
• Comprehensive patients' rights;
• Personnel, changes to the administrator qualifications and revised clinical manager;
• Leadership and Management;
• Operations; and
• Maximize Physician’s role.
LeadingAge National will be conducting another call within a couple weeks to address members' questions on the CoPs. The PowerPoint presentation is available to LeadingAge HHA members only. Please contact LeadingAge at pnotarstefano@leadingage.org or myself if you haven’t received the slides by Jan. 26th.
Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871