Individual facilities do not need to apply to CMS for these waivers.
The blanket waivers include the following:
• Bed capacity. Hospitals and nursing homes can process certified bed increases.
• Survey activities. CMS has suspended onsite survey activities, except for investigations of immediate jeopardy allegations, in areas impacted by the storm.
• Hospitalization. Skilled nursing facilities do not need a three-day prior hospitalization for coverage of a stay at the facility.
• Minimum Data Set timeframe. The timeframe requirements for Minimum Data Set assessments and transmission are waived for skilled nursing facilities.
• OASIS transmission timeframes. Outcome Assessment Information Set transmission timeframes are waived for all home health agencies.
• Home health supervision. Home health agencies are exempt from two week aide supervision requirements by a registered nurse.
• Hospice supervision. Hospice programs do not need supervision of hospice aides every 14 days by a registered nurse.
• Locations. Home health and hospice agencies may provide services in a shelter or alternate location for patients displaced by the storm.
• Dialysis. Service for end stage renal disease patients who cannot obtain their regularly scheduled dialysis treatment at a certified ESRD facility and have a medical need to receive an unscheduled or emergency dialysis session in an outpatient hospital setting is payable under the outpatient prospective payment system.
More Articles on Hurricane Sandy:
Hospitals May Apply for Quality Reporting Waivers, Extensions Following Hurricane Sandy
Rising Above Hurricane Sandy: Q&A With Hackensack University Health Network President and CEO Robert C. Garrett
Bellevue Hospital in NYC Evacuates Remaining 375 Patients
