CMS Updates Nursing Home Infection Control Survey Tools

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Jonathan Lips

CMS last week posted updates to several nursing home survey tools and documents:

• Entrance Conference Worksheets: Two separate Entrance Conference Worksheets with November 2020 revision dates are now posted: (1) A COVID-19 Focused Infection (FIC) Survey Entrance Conference Worksheet, which is now labeled with that name. This document is the same as the Aug. 2020 FIC Entrance Conference Worksheet, with one exception. An instruction in the August form noted “A comprehensive review of policies should be completed offsite.” In the Nov. 2020 version “should” now reads “may,” which potentially will lengthen time on-site in some cases.  (2) A standard survey Entrance Conference Worksheet, which incorporates COVID-related elements from the FIC worksheet, such as floor plan changes, staff responsible for notification of cases, and testing.
• Matrix (CMS-802): The matrix used to identify pertinent care categories for residents now includes suspected or confirmed COVID-19 under infections (category 20).
• Infection Control Pathway (CMS-20054 Infection Prevention Control and Immunization):  This form is now integrated with the COVID-19 Focused Survey tool previously released by CMS.
• COVID 19 FIC Survey Protocol: This 4-page document is updated for surveyor use, with new content about training, PPE, and other issues.
• Resident Interview, Resident Observation, Record Review, and Resident Representative Interview Care Areas and Probes: CMS has updated the probes for the respiratory infection and infections (not UTI, PU, or respiratory) areas, and added a new Transmission-Based Precautions care area.

For ease of access, we have combined all of the documents described above into this CMS Survey Tools Update.  You may also access these items as individual documents through this CMS Nursing Homes webpage, in the Downloads section.