by Jay Luxenberg, MD

On May 24, CMS posted an update entitled Advanced Copy: Dementia Care in Nursing Homes: Clarification to Appendix P State Operations Manual (SOM) and Appendix PP in the SOM for F309 – Quality of Care and F329 – Unnecessary Drugs.  This document includes a color-coded version of these sections of the States Operation Manual indicated exactly where the changes have been made. They have also posted three mandatory surveyor training videos that we can view that are intended to train the surveyors on this topic. It is well worth your time reviewing this material, which is surely going to influence future surveys.  Pay attention to the examples in the videos, indicating what the surveyors are being told constitutes actual harm and immediate jeopardy.