You can’t say they didn’t warn us.
For almost four years, since November 2016, the LTC Final Rule for qualifying to receive Medicare and Medicaid payments has been looming like a little dark cloud on the horizon, getting bigger and closer each year.
Now, a streamlined version of the HHS Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) recommendations and guidance have become mandatory. And the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is tasked with enforcing them. In full.
To begin with, you’ll need to have a fully detailed, written compliance and ethics program for increasing quality of care and preventing “criminal, civil, and administrative violations” and abuses. Since the OIG recommendations, which you’re familiar with, already cover such programs, that shouldn’t be a huge problem.
You’ll also need to designate your CEO, a board member, an operating division head, or, for smaller LTC facilities, a compliance officer, to be in charge of implementing every aspect of the program. Again, determining which “high-level personnel” to designate shouldn’t be a huge problem either.
Then, you’ll need to actually implement the program and document compliance.
That’s the hard part.
The program will have to include everything from pre-employment screening to person-centered care, special diets, crime and abuse prevention, and a compliance hotline that preserves whistleblowers’ anonymity and prevents retribution.
What’s more, you’ll need to break the program into specific steps and train not only each member of your full- and part-time staff, but also your contractors in the parts of the program that affect their duties.
And then you’ll need to track, audit and report on compliance, every step of the way. Are your current procedures up to the task? Is your IT?
That’s where the TLC comes in.
What if someone could monitor regulatory changes for you, and translate them from legalese into clear business requirements in everyday English?
What if they could give you policies and procedures that comply with the regulations, but that you can tailor to your own facility?
If they could tell you exactly which policies and procedures to follow, which tasks to perform, how, and by whom in your organization, and generate reports on each step towards compliance?
If they gave you the capability to track, audit and report on every step of the compliance process, at any time, with just a few mouse clicks?
Could your LTC use that kind of TLC? If so, click here to learn more.