CMS Revises Appendix A Of State Operations Manual

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Sept. 5 posted revisions to Appendix A of the State Operations Manual that include new interpretive guidelines and survey processes, reflecting updates to the hospital Conditions of Participation from rules released in 2019 and 2020.

• The QSO-25-24-Hospitals update will benefit both surveyors and the broader hospital community by providing subregulatory interpretive guidance and the applicable survey procedures for evaluating compliance with the hospital CoPs.
• The update also incorporates guidance from QSO memos S&C-16-29, 19-13 (revised), QSO-20-04, 22-20, 23-09 and QSO-23-19 into the SOM. These previously published memos involve life safety code updates, co-location, electronic reporting for deaths in restraint and seclusion, infection prevention and control, Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement, and ligature risk and assessments.