CMS announces sweeping update of federal nursing home rules

The federal government has moved to ban nursing homes from making new patients sign agreements requiring them to take disputes — even claims of abuse, sexual harassment or wrongful death — to a professional arbitrator instead of court (Source: “Advocates for seniors hail feds' new nursing-home rules,” Columbus Dispatch, Oct. 7, 2016).

In its first sweeping update since 1991, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also is making it more difficult for facilities to involuntarily discharge or transfer residents. It also is expanding training requirements for employees. And it is adding a provision that an initial care plan has to be developed within 48 hours of a resident being admitted.

The final rule is targeted at reducing unnecessary hospital readmissions and infections, improving quality of care and enhancing the safety of the nation’s 1.5 million nursing home residents, CMS said. The provisions, which are more than 700 pages long, will be phased in over three years. The first phase takes effect in just over seven weeks.