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CMS Needs to Come Clean on Immediate Jeopardy
There is concern among hospitals that rules governing how upcoming federal value-based purchasing regulations are not fairly or equitably interpreted or applied from state to state. And as of July 1, there's a huge amount of money at stake.
I am a former surveyor, and after many years of contact with both federal and surveyors, I can confirm that the discrepancies among surveyors are real and astounding. Some surveyors base their findings of deficiencies on their own preferences and interpretations, despite a lack of supporting evidence of how a practice fails to comply with professional standards of practice. In some instances, surveyors themselves, are not knowledgeable about certain practice. This is not meant as a criticism, rather it should give each side an opportunity to share information. Of even greater concern regarding state surveys (which are contracted by CMS), is that there are well-known facilities with political connections that are often able to have their citations reduced in scope and severity, or eliminated altogether. Or some surveyors simply develop a fondness for certain facilities, and then find it difficult to cite those facilities.