Nursing Homes: CMS Oversight of State Survey Agencies

CMS enters into agreements with State survey agencies (SAs) to conduct surveys to determine whether nursing homes are compliant with Medicare requirements. Recent reports by OIG found problems in SA performance, including not verifying whether nursing homes corrected deficiencies and not investigating complaints in a timely manner. CMS evaluates SA performance in fulfilling their surveying responsibilities, including through Federal monitoring surveys and performance thresholds described in the State Performance Standards System. When there is inadequate SA performance, CMS may impose a sanction or remedy, such as providing for training of survey teams, requiring the SA to submit a corrective action plan, or reducing the State's allotment of Federal financial participation. We will describe CMS's efforts to work with SAs to improve performance by conducting interviews and reviewing supporting documentation about CMS's monitoring efforts. We will also identify any challenges or barriers that may impede CMS's ability to help SAs improve performance.

Announced or Revised	Agency	Title	Component	Report Number(s)	Expected Issue Date (FY)
Completed	Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services	Nursing Homes: CMS Oversight of State Survey Agencies	Office of Evaluation and Inspections	OEI-06-19-00460	2022