What You Need to Know Now about the CMS 2012 Nursing Home Action Plan

On July 6, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2012 Nursing Home Action Plan, which went into effect immediately.

The Action Plan consists of five interrelated and coordinated approaches, each of which addresses one or more objectives of CMS' Three-Part Aim for improving healthcare in the U.S.:

1.     Improving the individual experience of care;

2.     Improving the health of populations; and

Reducing the per capita cost of care for populations.

The five components of the Action Plan and additional details about each are listed below.

1.     Enhance consumer engagement
Meets objective: 1
CMS plans to provide the public with a wider array of easy-to-understand information. For example, the Nursing Home Compare site (available at www.medicare.gov) has undergone a major overhaul.

2.     Strengthen survey processes, standards and enforcement
Meets objectives: 1, 2, 3
CMS is engaged in several ongoing initiatives to improve the effectiveness of both standard and complaint surveys.

3.     Promote quality improvement
Meets objectives: 1, 2, 3
CMS continues to increase its involvement in Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes as part of their efforts to meet quality improvement goals. The agency also encourages facilities to embrace resident-centered care.

4.     Create strategic approaches through partnerships
Meets objectives: 2, 3
CMS has partnered with State Survey Agencies (SAs), Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) and Advancing Excellence Local Area Networks (LANEs) to address quality improvement at the state and national levels.

Advancing quality through innovation and demonstration
Meets objective: 3
CMS is involved in a number of projects that seek to transform health care by finding new ways to pay for and deliver care while simultaneously improving care and lowering costs. 

To read the plan in its entirety, click here.