On March 4, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) suspended non-emergency inspections of health care facilities[1][2] and on March 20, CMS limited surveys to two types: targeted infection control surveys and complaint/facility-reported incidents triaged as immediate jeopardy.[3] On June 24, 2020, CMS released the results of 9899 targeted infection control surveys going back to March 2020. These surveys included the 5724 targeted infection control surveys that CMS had released on June 4, 2020.[4] Accordingly, this report analyzes the 4175 targeted infection control surveys that were released for the first time on June 24. (CMS will continue to update the data on the last Wednesday of each month.)
Ninety-nine new infection control deficiencies were cited following the 4175 targeted infection control surveys that were released on June 24. The results are similar to the results from the first group of 5724 infection prevention and control surveys that CMS released on June 4. Analysis of the newly released surveys again indicates that only a very small fraction of facilities, 2.37%, received a deficiency for infection prevention and control and 96% of the deficiencies were classified as “no harm” or “substantial compliance.” In addition, facilities cited with infection prevention and control deficiencies were also more likely than facilities that were not cited with such a deficiency to be operated on a for-profit basis, to have had the remedies of civil money penalties or denial of payment for new admissions imposed in the prior three years, and to be Special Focus Facilities or candidates for the Special Focus Facility program
To read the full report, please go to https://medicareadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Report-Coronavirus-Infection-Controls-Second-Batch-.pdf
July 9, 2020
Miriam Edelman, MPA, MSSW
T. Edelman
[1] CMS, “Suspension of Survey Activities,” QSO-20-12-All (Mar. 4, 2020), https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-12-all.pdf.
[2] CMS, “Suspension of Survey Activities,” QSO-20-12-All (Mar. 4, 2020), https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-12-all.pdf.
[3] CMS, ‘Prioritization of Survey Activities,” QSO-20-20-All (Mar. 23, 2020), https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-20-all.pdf.
[4] On June 4, 2020, CMS released infection control survey data for 5724 nursing facilities that were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. These data showed a dramatic and implausible decline in infection control deficiencies. Less than three percent of infection control surveys since March cited an infection control deficiency and 161 of 163 of the deficiencies (cited in 162 facilities) were classified as causing residents “no harm.” The Center for Medicare Advocacy issued two reports about these 163 infection control deficiencies. CMA, “Special Report: infection Control Surveys at Nursing Facilities: CMS Data are Not Plausible” (Jun. 11, 2020), https://medicareadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Infection-Control-Surveys-Report.pdf.; CMA, “Special Report: Nursing Homes Cited with Infection Control Deficiencies during the Pandemic: Poor Results in Health Inspections, Low Staffing Levels” (Jun. 18, 2020), https://medicareadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Coronavirus-Report-Infection-Control-Deficiencies-NHC.pdf.