The prospective date earlier set for the termination of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.\u2019s Medicare provider agreement has come and gone but there is still no news on when the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would do their resurvey.<\/p>\n
Last April, CMS put off to Oct. 30, 2015, its decision on the hospital\u2019s Condition of Participation, or CoP, with Medicare.<\/p>\n
In a recent interview, CHCC chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a said she will be calling CMS to find out the status of the hospital.<\/p>\n
No validation survey or resurvey was made by CMS prior to the expiration. Mu\u00f1a said this could be because of the delay in the passage of the federal budget or because of the disaster that the CNMI went through with Typhoon Soudelor in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually right after a disaster, they don\u2019t really come in. I think that\u2019s just out of respect. I think that\u2019s what they\u2019re doing,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
However, Mu\u00f1a said they still need to come back and do a resurvey.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding is, it is required or necessary that when a survey was done and basically findings were made, then it is required that after we submit a plan of correction, which was accepted, that they need to come back and resurvey,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
She doesn\u2019t know when they\u2019re going back to do a resurvey but that they anticipate them coming in next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy prediction is sometime in January,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
With the date passed, Mu\u00f1a said she expects CMS to grant them an extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat has happened in the past is that whenever they can\u2019t come at a certain time and the expiration date is just approaching, what they do is basically go ahead and extend it,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
She sees no reason for CMS not to extend the hospital\u2019s recertification.<\/p>\n
Despite CMS not coming to do the survey, Mu\u00f1a said the hospital is still trying to do everything that they are supposed to do like updating their policies, and education and training is being done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve been doing. Basically, what CHCC has been doing is to try to make sure that whatever plan of correction we said we were going to do, that it\u2019s happening,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
She said there are also certain things that happened during the disaster that they would like to include in their policies, one of which is about taking care of special needs patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe things that have occurred post-disaster, we want to be able to make sure that those are incorporated into our policies and we need to make sure that it still meets the standard of care that Medicare wants us to implement and enforce,\u201d Mu\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
In September 2014, CMS found the hospital non-compliant with seven CoPs. They extended the hospital\u2019s CoP with Medicare up to April 3 before it was again extended to Oct. 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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