Title 42

SECTION 488.414

488.414 Action when there is repeated substandard quality of care.

§ 488.414 Action when there is repeated substandard quality of care.

(a) General. If a facility has been found to have provided substandard quality of care on the last three consecutive standard surveys, as defined in § 488.305, regardless of other remedies provided -

(1) CMS imposes denial of payment for all new admissions, as specified in § 488.417, or denial of all payments, as specified in § 488.418;

(2) The State must impose denial of payment for all new admissions, as specified in § 488.417; and

(3) CMS does and the State survey agency must impose State monitoring, as specified in § 488.422, until the facility has demonstrated to the satisfaction of CMS or the State, that it is in substantial compliance with all requirements and will remain in substantial compliance with all requirements.

(b) Repeated noncompliance. For purposes of this section, repeated noncompliance is based on the repeated finding of substandard quality of care and not on the basis that the substance of the deficiency or the exact tag number for the deficiency was repeated.

(c) Standard surveys to which this provision applies. Standard surveys completed by the State survey agency on or after October 1, 1990, are used to determine whether the threshold of three consecutive standard surveys is met.

(d) Program participation. (1) The determination that a certified facility has repeated instances of substandard quality of care is made without regard to any variances in the facility's program participation (that is, any standard survey completed for Medicare, Medicaid or both programs will be considered).

(2) Termination would allow the count of repeated substandard quality of care surveys to start over.

(3) Change of ownership. (i) A facility may not avoid a remedy on the basis that it underwent a change of ownership.

(ii) In a facility that has undergone a change of ownership, CMS does not and the State may not restart the count of repeated substandard quality of care surveys unless the new owner can demonstrate to the satisfaction of CMS or the State that the poor past performance no longer is a factor due to the change in ownership.

(e) Facility alleges corrections or achieves compliance after repeated substandard quality of care is identified. (1) If a penalty is imposed for repeated substandard quality of care, it will continue until the facility has demonstrated to the satisfaction of CMS or the State that it is in substantial compliance with the requirements and that it will remain in substantial compliance with the requirements for a period of time specified by CMS or the State.

(2) A facility will not avoid the imposition of remedies or the obligation to demonstrate that it will remain in compliance when it -

(i) Alleges correction of the deficiencies cited in the most recent standard survey; or

(ii) Achieves compliance before the effective date of the remedies.

---