CMS to Strengthen and Enhance Oversight and Transparency of Medicare Accrediting Organizations
- By BSTQ Staff
In October, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took steps to enhance and strengthen its oversight and quality transparency of accrediting organizations (AOs) in three ways: 1) the public posting of AO performance data, 2) a redesigned process for AO validation surveys and 3) the release of the annual report to Congress. Together, these efforts are designed to provide important insights to the public and assist AOs, providers and suppliers in ensuring patient health and safety.
To increase transparency for consumers, the agency will post on its CMS.gov website (at qcor.cms.gov/hosp_cop/HospitalCOPs.html) the latest quality-of-care deficiency findings following complaint surveys at facilities accredited by AOs; a list of providers determined by CMS to be out of compliance, with information included on the provider’s AO; and overall performance data for AOs.
Historically, CMS has measured AOs’ effectiveness by choosing a sample of facilities, performing state-conducted assessment services within 60 days following AO surveys and comparing results of the state surveys with the AO surveys. Now, CMS will test a more streamlined assessment by eliminating the second state-conducted validation survey and instead using direct observation during the original AO-run survey to evaluate AOs’ ability to assess compliance with CMS’s conditions of participation. CMS will also analyze and incorporate state complaint investigations of accredited facilities as part of the agency’s strengthened validation program.
The most recent annual report to Congress, the “Review of Medicare’s Program for Oversight of Accrediting Organizations and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Validation Program Fiscal Year 2017,” is posted on the CMS website. According to CMS, it will continue to publish this report online annually to demonstrate the impact of these changes on the oversight of AOs and to provide greater transparency to the public.
References
CMS to Strengthen Oversight of Medicare’s Accrediting Organizations. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services press release, Oct. 4, 2018. Accessed at www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-strengthenoversight-medicares-accreditation-organizations.
