Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 38 / Monday, March 1, 2021 / Notices Dated: February 24, 2021.
Lynette Wilson, Federal Liaison, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services.
FR Doc. 202104130 Filed 22521; 8:45 am BILLING CODE 412001P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS3400FN

Medicare and Medicaid Programs;
Application From the Accreditation Commission for Health Care ACHC
for Continued Approval of its Home Health Agency Accreditation Program Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services CMS, Department of Health and Human Services HHS.
ACTION: Final notice.
AGENCY:

This final notice announces our decision to approve The Accreditation Commission for Health Care ACHC for continued recognition as a national accrediting organization for home health agencies HHAs that wish to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. An HHA that participates in Medicaid must also meet the Medicare conditions of participation CoPs.
DATES: This decision announced in this final notice is effective February 24, 2021 through February 24, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tara Lemons 410 7863030. Lillian Williams 410 7868636.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:

I. Background Under the Medicare program, eligible beneficiaries may receive covered services from a home health agency HHA, provided certain requirements are met. Sections 1861m and o, 1891
and 1895 of the Social Security Act the Act establish distinct criteria for an entity seeking designation as an HHA.
Regulations concerning provider agreements are at 42 CFR part 489 and those pertaining to activities relating to the survey and certification of facilities and other entities are at 42 CFR part 488. The regulations at 42 CFR parts 409
and 484 specify the conditions that an HHA must meet to participate in the Medicare program, the scope of covered services and the conditions for Medicare payment for home health care.
Generally, to enter into a provider agreement with the Medicare program, an HHA must first be certified by a state
VerDate Sep<11>2014

18:48 Feb 26, 2021

Jkt 253001

survey agency as complying with the conditions or requirements set forth in 42 CFR part 484 of our regulations.
Thereafter, the HHA is subject to regular surveys by a state survey agency to determine whether it continues to meet these requirements. However, there is an alternative to certification surveys by state agencies. Accreditation by a nationally recognized Medicare accreditation program approved by CMS
may substitute for both initial and ongoing state review.
Section 1865a1 of the Act provides that, if a provider entity demonstrates through accreditation by an approved national accrediting organization that all applicable Medicare conditions are met or exceeded, we will deem those provider entities as having met our requirements. Accreditation by an accrediting organization is voluntary and is not required for Medicare participation.
If an accrediting organization is recognized by the Secretary of Health and Human Services the Secretary as having standards for accreditation that meet or exceed Medicare requirements, any provider entity accredited by the national accrediting bodys approved program would be deemed to meet the Medicare conditions. A national accrediting organization applying for CMS approval of their accreditation program under 42 CFR part 488, subpart A, must provide CMS with reasonable assurance that the accrediting organization requires the accredited provider entities to meet requirements that are at least as stringent as the Medicare conditions. Our regulations concerning the approval of accrediting organizations are set forth at 488.5.
Section 488.5e2i requires accrediting organizations to reapply for continued approval of its Medicare accreditation program every 6 years or sooner as determined by CMS.
The Accreditation Commission for Health Care ACHCs term of approval for their HHA accreditation program expires February 24, 2021.
II. Application Approval Process Section 1865a3A of the Act provides a statutory timetable to ensure that our review of applications for CMSapproval of an accreditation program is conducted in a timely manner. The Act provides us 210 days after the date of receipt of a complete application, with any documentation necessary to make the determination, to complete our survey activities and application process. Within 60 days after receiving a complete application, we must publish a notice in the Federal Register that identifies the national accrediting
PO 00000

Frm 00087

Fmt 4703

Sfmt 4703

12005

body making the request, describes the request, and provides no less than a 30day public comment period. At the end of the 210-day period, we must publish a notice in the Federal Register approving or denying the application.
III. Provisions of the Proposed Notice In the September 28, 2020 Federal Register 85 FR 60796, we published a proposed notice announcing ACHCs request for continued approval of its Medicare HHA accreditation program.
In the September 28, 2020 proposed notice, we detailed our evaluation criteria. Under section 1865a2 of the Act and in our regulations at 488.5, we conducted a review of ACHCs Medicare HHA accreditation application in accordance with the criteria specified by our regulations, which include, but are not limited to the following:
An administrative review of ACHCs: 1 Corporate policies; 2
financial and human resources available to accomplish the proposed surveys; 3
procedures for training, monitoring, and evaluation of its HHA surveyors; 4
ability to investigate and respond appropriately to complaints against accredited HHAs; and 5 survey review and decision-making process for accreditation.
The comparison of ACHCs Medicare HHA accreditation program standards to our current Medicare conditions of participation CoPs for HHAs.
A documentation review of ACHCs survey process to do the following:
++ Determine the composition of the survey team, surveyor qualifications, and ACHCs ability to provide continuing surveyor training.
++ Compare ACHCs processes to those we require of state survey agencies, including periodic resurvey and the ability to investigate and respond appropriately to complaints against accredited HHAs.
++ Evaluate ACHCs procedures for monitoring HHAs it has found to be out of compliance with ACHCs program requirements. This pertains only to monitoring procedures when ACHC
identifies non-compliance. If noncompliance is identified by a state survey agency through a validation survey, the state survey agency monitors corrections as specified at 488.9c.
++ Assess ACHCs ability to report deficiencies to the surveyed HHAs and respond to the HHAs plan of correction in a timely manner.
++ Establish ACHCs ability to provide CMS with electronic data and reports necessary for effective validation and assessment of the organizations survey process.

E:FRFM01MRN1.SGM

01MRN1