Jun 2, 2017 - Medicaid Conditions of Participation for Home Health Agencies ... CMS for its efforts to revise the CoPs f
Submit Comments Supporting Delay of Effective Date of New Medicare and Medicaid Conditions of Participation for Home Health Agencies Background On October 9, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule, updating the Conditions of Participation for Home Health Agencies. CMS solicited comments, and on January 13, 2017, CMS published the Conditions of Participation for Home Health Agencies Final Rule, with an effective date of July 13, 2017. The Home Health Agencies Conditions of Participation Final Rule revised the Conditions of Participation that home health agencies must meet in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs – the first revision to the rules in more than 20 years. However, due to concerns from home health agencies that they did not have enough time to prepare for the changes, CMS recently issued a new rule, proposing to delay the effective date of the Conditions of Participation until January 13, 2018. CMS also proposed delaying the phase-in date for the performance improvement project requirements until July 13, 2018. We Need Your Help Our hope is that the effective date of the Conditions of Participation for Home Health Agencies is delayed by 6 months, allowing home health agencies adequate time to prepare for the updated requirements. To help ensure CMS delays the effective date of the Home Health Conditions of Participation, we are asking for your help by encouraging you to submit a comment letter to CMS, urging the Agency to finalize the proposed delay. Below are talking points to use in a letter, the deadline for submitting comments, and where to submit comments. Talking Points
Thank you for the opportunity to submit comments on the proposal to delay the effective date of the Conditions of Participation (CoPs) for Home Health Agencies (HHAs). I am a physical therapist/physical therapist assistant practicing in _____. I commend CMS for its efforts to revise the CoPs for HHAs and support the new requirements. To allow HHAs sufficient time to implement the new requirements, I encourage you to delay the effective date of the CoPs by 6 months. Delaying the effective date of the CoPs to January 13, 2018 will allow HHAs to effectively and efficiently come into compliance with the new CoPs. Thank you. (Include Name/Title at end). 1
Deadline Comments must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on June 2, 2017. Submission of Comments We recommend you submit comments electronically on this regulation here: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2014-0132-0196. Follow the “Comment Now” instructions.
