In July CMS released a 403 page proposal that would make sweeping changes to nursing home regulations in hopes of slashing the number of unnecessary hospital readmissions and infections, increase quality of care and improve resident safety. The President and CEO of the American Health Care Association (AHCA), Mark Parkinson, however, is making an effort to try and convince the CMS that it needs to phase in these new requirements over five or more years, or give the industry time to figure out how they are going to pay for the changes.
The estimated compliance cost to the industry would be $729,495,614 in the first year and $638,386,760 in the second year. That comes to $46,491 and $40,685 per facility. Parkinson is urging members of AHCA/NCAL to write to CMS to explain how those costs will impact the operations of long term care facilities.
In his letter to CMS, Parkinson states that the financial burden of implementing these and other changes already required is too much and that the cost to the facilities would have an impact on the residents. Parkinson acknowledges that there are some good things in the proposed changes that will lead to a heightened focus on quality, he just feels that it would be best to phase in the rule changes over five or more years to limit the burden placed on facilities. Read Parkinson’s letter to CMS on the AHCA website.
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