New CMS Hospital CoP Manual

October 10th, 2016

CMS has published its new hospital condition of participation (CoP) manual. The manual is dated April 1, 2015, and was published on April 8, 2015. This update was expected and included the information in the CMS survey and certification memo dated Jan. 30, 2015. The CMS hospital manuals are updated more frequently to reflect changes in the regulation or interpretive guidelines. In fact, the CMS hospital manual, Appendix A, was revised five times last year. This is better for hospitals. In the past, the manuals were not updated as frequently and hospitals were frequently not aware that there had been many changes made in the survey memos.

When CMS issues a survey memo, it reserves the right to tinker with the language. When the language is in the final format, CMS will issue a transmittal and then update the CMS manual. Transmittals are also issued to communicate new or changed policies or procedures that will be incorporated in the CMS Online Manual System. CMS issued transmittal R137SOMA, dated April 1, 2015, entitled “Revisions to State Operations Manual (SOM) Appendices A, G, L and T related to Hospitals, Rural Health Clinics, Ambulatory Surgical Centers and Swing Beds.” The transmittal is 56 pages. The transmittal was done to implement the regulations effective July 11, 2014, along with the survey memo issued Jan. 30, 2015. The transmittal and new CMS manual amends, deletes or revises tag numbers in dietary (628, 629, and 630), utilization review (652, 653, and 658), outpatient orders (1076, 1080, and 1081), rehab services (1132) and respiratory therapy (1163).

The April 1, 2015, hospital CoP manual can be downloaded or reviewed here.

The CMS transmittals can be downloaded from here.

Hospitals should go out and check at least monthly the CMS survey memos, which are here.