New Hospice Guidance on Survey Enforcement

Situation Report | November 16, 2020

In a November 13 Dear Administrator Letter (DAL), the state Department of Health (DOH) informs hospices that it will exercise “enforcement discretion” when conducting surveillance surveys for those hospice agencies which are acting in accordance with certain federal waiver requirements but are not acting in accordance with the commensurate state regulations. 

These areas include: 

  • Use of volunteers by hospices.
  • Nursing visits every 14 days to assess the quality of care and services provided by the aide. 
  • Updating of the comprehensive assessment by the hospice interdisciplinary group every 15 days.

This exercise of enforcement discretion will end once the public health emergency has ended.

See here a current list of all CMS blanket waivers. Federal waivers specific to hospice can be found here.