Verification of Data

AHCA/NCAL reported that verification is needed of data sent to CMS by nursing homes. CMS has established a policy where up to 1,500 nursing facilities will be called upon to submit medical chart documentation for official review. This new verification process is only for the facilities that participate in the Skilled Nursing Quality Reporting Program; remarkably, some facilities do not even join and aren’t held to the program’s reporting standards.

To keep up with this change, facilities will need to keep up with notifications from CMS throughout the year, check their iQIES folders often, and submit their requested records when they are asked. Failure to submit the required data may result in losing Medicare reimbursement for the year.

This added oversight is another example of the increased safety measures that must be added as nursing homes prove themselves unable to properly care for the health and well-being of vulnerable adults. Perhaps if improving society’s welfare was of any real concern to such facilities, added hoops of verification would not be necessary.