Federal regulators have put pre-admission screenings on the back burner, at least temporarily, during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued waivers allowing nursing homes to delay pre-admission screenings for residents.
The agency allows states and nursing homes to suspend Pre-Admission Screening and Annual Resident Review (PASRR) assessments for new residents for 30 days. After 30 days, new nursing home residents with a mental illness or intellectual disability should receive the assessment as soon as resources become available.
CMS first announced in February that providers would be seeing changes to the preadmission screening process for potential nursing home residents. The overhaul will be the first major change to the rules since the early 1990s. Proposed changes included updating the definitions of mental illness and interring disability.
The agency also modified certain requirements for the Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement program. The waivers narrow the scope of the QAPI program to focus on adverse events and infection control.
“This will help ensure facilities focus on aspects of care delivery most closely associated with COVID-19 during the [public health emergency],” CMS explained.
