For-profit nursing home chains provide poorer quality of care, study asserts

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Friday published a rule in the Federal Register that will permit a waiver in some cases of the two-year ban on nurse-aide training. This will apply to facilities assessed a civil money penalty (CMP) of at least $5,000 for noncompliance that is not related to quality of care.

The rule applies only to the CMP disapproval trigger. It does not cover other events that would trigger nurse aide training disapproval. CMS will evaluate submitted waiver requests on a case-by-case basis. The rule is set to take effect May 24.

Another provision in the rule would require states to establish a procedure to permit a nurse aide to petition the state to have a single finding of neglect removed from the nurse-aide registry. This would take place if the state determines that the finding was a single occurrence, and does not indicate a pattern of abuse or neglect. CMS said it will continue to evaluate this provision before deciding whether or not to implement it.