New CMS Long-Term Care Surveyor Guidance: Key Changes Affecting Residents and Facilities, Compliance, and Litigation

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) released major changes to its long-term care survey guidelines that inspectors will begin using on Feb. 24, 2025: “Long-Term Care (LTC) Surveyor Guidance Process: Significant Updates Aim to Enhance the Quality and Oversight of LTC Surveys.” Changes in these guidelines mean changes in what constitutes a deficiency and how they may be addressed with respect to both existing and new regulations. Significant changes concern admission, transfer, and discharge processes, including prohibiting language in admission agreements that requests or requires a third-party guarantee of payment, medication management, infection control, and health equity considerations. McCarter & English Partner Khaled Klele joins Strafford for a live 90-minute CLE webinar for nursing home attorneys to discuss what the CMS guidelines say and which guidelines will have the most impact on their practices, whether plaintiff or defense.