Nursing homes facing a civil monetary penalty due to any type of deficiency will be subject to escrow and entitled to request an independent informal dispute resolution process, according to a newly issued memorandum from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Currently, nursing homes must put money in escrow only for fines related to actual harm or immediate jeopardy. As of Oct. 1, facilities will be subject to escrow for all civil monetary penalties that result from a standard or complaint survey, the CMS memo states. This means the escrow requirement will apply even if the deficiency citation does not rise to the “G” level for scope and severity.
The new requirement will apply for all surveys that begin on or after Oct. 1, according to CMS. Revisit surveys associated with an original survey that took place prior to Oct. 1 will not be subject to the new rule.
Facilities are entitled to request either a standard or independent informal dispute resolution proceeding once a civil monetary penalty is imposed and the amount is set to be placed in an escrow account, the memo notes. CMS is allowed to collect and place the money in escrow as of the date an independent IDR is completed or 90 days after the date of the penalty notice, whichever occurs first.
Further information will be provided in a revision to the State Operations Manual, according to the Aug. 30 memo.
Click here to access the complete memo.
