QSO-20-41-All Revised 06.21.2021

QSO-20-41-All Revised 06.21.2021

Emergency Preparedness Training and Testing Program Exemption –

CMS recognizes many facilities are still operating under disaster/emergency conditions during the PHE, i.e., under an activated emergency plan. We are therefore providing additional guidance for inpatient providers/suppliers, consistent with the exemption authorized by the EP regulations. This exemption applies to the next required full-scale exercise only, not the exercise of choice, based on the facility’s 12-month exercise cycle. The exercise cycle is determined by the facility (e.g. calendar year, fiscal year or another 12- month timeframe).

The updated guidance only applies if a facility is still currently operating under its activated emergency plan. Facilities which have resumed normal operating status (not under their activated emergency plans) and were exempted from a full-scale exercise for its 2020 cycle, must conduct a full-scale exercise or an individual facility-based exercise for its next cycle.  State Survey Agency Directors For Inpatient Providers and Suppliers (§418.113(d)(2)(inpatient hospice); §441.184(d) (PRTFs), §482.15(d)(2) (hospitals); §483.73(d)(2)(LTC facilities); §483.475(d)(2)(ICFs/IID); §484.102 (HHAs); and §485.625(d)(2)(CAHs): If the facility is still operating under its currently activated emergency plan, any currently-activated emergency plan will be recognized by surveyors as having met the full-scale exercise requirement for 2021 (even if it claimed the exemption for the 2020 full-scale exercise). If the facility claimed the full-scale exercise exemption in 2020 based on its activated emergency plan and has since resumed normal operating status, the inpatient provider/supplier is expected to complete its required full-scale exercise in 2021, unless it has reactivated its emergency plan for an actual emergency during its 12-month cycle for 2021.

Read full QSO Memo 20-41 All here

 

Questions?

Contact:

Laura Hofmann, MSN, RN – Director of Clinical and Nursing Facility Regulatory Services
c: 425-231-4804

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June 21, 2021