The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently implemented a new policy that requires home care agencies in Florida to pass a CHAP Inspection in order to continue receiving funding.
A CHAP inspection is an on-site survey of a home health agency’s compliance with federal regulations. Home care agencies that participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs are required to have a current CHAP certification. The purpose of a CHAP inspection is to ensure that an agency meets the standards set forth in the Home Care Agency licensing manual and complies with all aspects of their operation.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently implemented a new policy that requires home care agencies in Florida to pass a CHAP Inspection in order to continue receiving funding. This has caused many agencies to scramble to understand what is required for the inspection and how to prepare for it. In this series of blog posts, we will provide everything you need to know about CHAP Inspections for home care agencies in Florida, including what is required, how to prepare, and who can help.
What is required
As a home care agency in Florida, you must be up to date on your CHAP inspections. This includes having all the necessary survey documents on hand. Without these documents, you could be cited for deficiencies. So what exactly is required? The first thing you’ll need is a detailed description of your agency’s management structure and policies. This should include information on who is responsible for what, as well as how decisions are made and implemented within the agency. You’ll also need documentation of your quality assurance procedures.
In today’s article we will focus on the survey documents checklist prepared by Christina Crumbley, Healthcare Consultant and Contract Surveyor at Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) .
There are a total of 20 reports divided in three categories, you will need to produce in a short period of time to consider your agency ready for CHAP inspections:
1.Unduplicated census report for 12 months
a. Meaning the number of individual patients admitted
i. If a patient was admitted, discharged, and re-admitted another time, it still only counts as 1.
2.Current Active Patient Census
a. Should include: SOC date, current episode date, primary diagnosis at least, services provided (SN, PT, OT, ST..Etc.)
3. Discharge/transfer patient report for a certain time frame
a. Should include: SOC date, DC date, services provided, reason for DC or transfer
4. Weekly patient schedule
5. Active employee list
a. Should include: Date of hire, discipline (SN, PT, OT)
6. Ability to print emergency management priority list
1. List of physician license expirations
2. Incident statistics/Complaint statistics/Infection statistics
3. Patient friendly list of medications, schedule, and plan of care
1. Referral and Face to Face document
2. Consent forms
3. Emergency Management consent
4. All assessments, evaluations, OASIS, and notes
5. Medication Profile with proof of reconciliation at start of care and with each new medication added
6. Plan of Care as sent to MD
7. All additional orders
8. Aide Plan of Care to compare to aide notes
9. Communicationnotes that explain any patient issues
10. Missed visits with proof MD was notified
11. DC and Transfer summaries with specific criteria (Based on accreditation requirements)
How to prepare
If your Home Care Agency or Registry doesn’t have any software to collect, save and report all this data, you will need to make sure you have an organized and efficient filling system. For an agency with 50 or more patients, this is a full time administrative job.
On the other side, if you already have a Management Software or EMR, you may be able to collect some of these reports. In which case, it’s very important that you contact your software provider and ask where and how to access to these reports.
Who can help
If you’re a home care agency in Florida, then you know that CHAP inspections are a necessary part of doing business. But what exactly do you need to have on hand when inspectors come knocking? Luckily, we’ve got you covered. Our team has put together a comprehensive list of everything that you’ll need to ensure a smooth inspection.
At InMyTeam we made sure our clients are 100% ready for the CHAP surveys. With the ability to manage your Home Care Agency or Registry 100% electronically and 35 different reports that will give you access to the information you need within minutes.
Learn how INMYTEAM can help you
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