CMS Request: Recommendations for Changes to LTC Requirements for Participation

Under Executive Order 13563, “Improving Regulations and Regulatory Review'', each agency is directed to review existing regulations and to identify those that can be eliminated as “…obsolete, unnecessary, burdensome, or counterproductive, or that can be modified to be more efficient, effective…”

LeadingAge has received a request from the CMS for review and recommendations for change or amendment to the Requirements for Participation (RoPs) for LTC Facilities that would eliminate language/provisions found to meet the above-referenced criteria and/or that would improve the RoPs by making them more resident-centered and consistent with providers’ culture change efforts.

This is an opportunity to provide feedback to CMS prior to the initiation of the formal rulemaking process.

Recommendations for change and amendment are limited to the purely regulatory sections of the RoPs. Statutory provisions and the Interpretive Guidance/Guidance to Surveyors are excluded from this process. To facilitate your review, we have highlighted the attached document to show those portions of the RoPs that are statutorily derived. As a result, your comments should be limited only to those portions of the document that are NOT HIGHLIGHTED because these are the portions that are purely regulatory.

Following is the link to the Federal Regulations [e-CFR], listing the RoPs for LTC Facilities.

LeadingAge recognizes this involves review of a significant amount of material. Please feel free to comment in whatever format is easiest, e.g., narrative or cut & paste, etc. LeadingAge apologizes for the short turn-around time, but as always, your input on this issue is considered both critical and invaluable.

Please respond to emunley@LeadingAge.org with any recommendations for change and/or amendment ASAP, BUT NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, JUNE 22.

(Jennifer Hilliard, LeadingAge)