The Office of Inspector General (OIG) added nine (9) new items to its Work Plan in May 2020. Nursing homes appear to be high on the government’s enforcement list, accounting for three (3) of the nine (9) new work plan items. As could have been predicted, two (2) of the three (3) nursing home specific topics are focused on infection control and COVID-19 response. The third Work Plan item relates to monitoring use of psychotropic drugs. Reduction of the use of psychotropic drugs has long been on the radar of nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have aided this initiative by introducing a quality measure that is publicly reported to track usage of antipsychotics without appropriate diagnoses. However, CMS is now expressing concerns that publicly reporting this data may have potentially resulted in certain facilities underreporting such data.
For more information on these and other newly added Work Plan items, visit: https://oig.hhs.gov/reports-and-publications/workplan/updates.asp
