According to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed their work on a proposed rule that revises the home health Conditions of Participation (HH CoPs). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) may now send the proposed rule to the Office of the Federal Register for publication. Once published, interested parties will have 60 days to submit comments.
Although CMS has made several significant revisions to the HH CoPs through out the years, many of the current CoPs have remained unchanged since their inception in 1973. In 1997, CMS attempted to revise the HH CoPs with a proposed rule that focused on patient-centered outcome oriented quality standards. However, since CMS did not publish a final rule within the required three years time frame, the proposed rule was rescinded and CMS must issued anther proposed rule.
CMS informed the NAHC that they are actively working on a roll-out plan, but do not have an exact time for when they will publish the proposed rule.
Do you think CMS will publish a final rule that will revise the HH CoPs?
