CMS Proposes CARE Rule to Streamline Provider Regulations, Saving an Estimated $320 Million
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 5 issued the Cutting Administrative Requirements for Excellence in Patient Care (CARE) proposed rule (CMS-3484-P), proposing revisions to the Conditions of Participation, Conditions for Coverage and Requirements for Participation for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating providers and suppliers. The revisions would reduce costs, increase transparency, enhance flexibility for providers to deliver innovative patient care, and streamline existing regulations; the rule also proposes to rescind certain Medicaid institutional payment transparency reporting requirements.
CMS conducted a comprehensive review of the requirements for all 21 provider and supplier types and estimates the proposals would collectively save $320 million, returning more than 3.26 million hours of staff time to providers. For hospitals and critical access hospitals, CMS proposes removing staff training requirements for transfer protocols and emergency services readiness and the obstetric-care-specific quality assessment requirements, while establishing new patients' rights requirements on birth tissue collection, including informed consent and processes for families requesting their birth tissues for cultural, religious, or personal reasons. For long-term care facilities, it proposes removing COVID-19 vaccine education, offering and documentation requirements for staff, streamlining the remaining resident requirements, and removing continuing respiratory illness data reporting while retaining reporting during a future declared public health emergency.
The rule would also adopt the 2024 editions of the National Fire Protection Association Life Safety and Health Care Facilities Codes and the 2022 Emergency and Standby Power Systems Codes, remove the requirement that patient care areas have exterior windows or doors for natural light and ventilation, and rescind Medicaid institutional payment transparency reporting on the shares of payments spent on direct care worker and support staff compensation. CMS is also soliciting comments on six topics, including discharge-notice opt-outs for long-term care residents, physician supervision flexibility for certified registered nurse anesthetists, expanding physician assistant and nurse practitioner practice in long-term care facilities, transplant program certification criteria, and Medicaid institutional workforce shortages.
(Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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