CMS Releases Data On Nursing Home Enforcement

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the Survey and Certification letter S&C 16-27, a compilation of enforcement actions imposed between 2006 and 2014. As a result of deficiencies identified during a nursing home survey, a remedy may be imposed on the facility by the Department of Health or CMS. There are a number of remedies that may be imposed including a Civil Money Penalty (CMP), a Denial of Payment for New Admissions (DOPNA), a Directed Plan of Correction, or a Directed Inservice. The selection of enforcement remedies is based on the seriousness of the deficiency cited, as well as the compliance history of the facility. 

The data shows a decrease in deficiency citations issued between 2006 and 2009, which CMS attributes to the impact of the recession on state survey budgets. With less citations comes fewer enforcement actions. Another trend that is notable, is the variation in both CMS regions and individual states in their use of certain enforcement remedies. For example, New York in 2014 imposed the Directed Inservice twenty times and the Directed Plan of Correction twenty-five times. California with more than two and a half times the number of enforcement actions as NYS, used the Directed Inservice only once and did not use the Directed Plan of Correction at all.

Contact: Elliott Frost, efrost@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8832