It’s more important than ever for home health organizations to be ready for the survey process.

In order to be prepared, providers will need to be armed with strategies that will help them come out on top.

“Even the most prepared operations are blindsided by unexpected interpretations and requirements,” Lynn Smith, senior manager on the compliance and regulatory team at SimiTree, said during a recent webinar.

Broadly, there are a number of different kinds of surveys that are relevant to home health providers, including state surveys, the deemed status accreditation survey and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) validation survey.

“The state survey is where your State Department of Health would come and do your survey,” Smith said. “Also, there are deemed status accreditation surveys. This is when you’re using an accrediting body to do your survey. The CMS validation survey is when a CMS team, or contractor, conducts an independent survey within 60 days of the state survey to compare the results. Sometimes you may see a CMS validation survey that comes after an accrediting body does your survey.”

Prior to the survey process, it is important to make sure that the entire staff has a strong understanding of the current home health conditions of participation (CoPs).

Along these lines, providers should incorporate this education into an orientation program for new staff members. There should also be rolling updates for the current staff.

Another way providers can make sure the survey process goes smoothly is by creating and maintaining a survey readiness binder for the office, and online, according to Smith.

“You can get the information from your accrediting body, or from the state, they have a list of the different things they want for the survey, prior to the surveyor even getting there, so have those prepared,” she said.

A well put together binder should include a copy of current applicable licenses or permits, a current 855A/CMS approval letter, the agency’s organizational chart, administrator and designee names and letters of appointment.

Additionally, the binder should include the organization’s current patient census, discharge/transfer patient census for the last 6-12 months and EMR access.

“There is nothing worse than sitting there for two hours waiting to get access to the records, so you want to make sure that’s top priority,” Smith said. “The more you have ready for that survey, the easier the process will be.”

At least once a year, providers should utilize current CMS survey protocols to organize a mock survey. This will help the organization determine if it’s CoP compliant, as well as what areas call for further improvement.

Smith noted that mock surveys typically help organizations become more comfortable with the process.

Ultimately, Smith believes that providers should remember that survey readiness is an ongoing and ever-evolving process.

“Look at your record review process, staff, education, supervisory visits, all of those are key areas to the survey process. But survey readiness is an ongoing agency-wide effort. It’s every day,” she said.

The post How Home Health Providers Can Prepare For The Survey Processes appeared first on Home Health Care News.