Skilled nursing providers affected by Hurricane Irma are getting some relief. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has granted exceptions for some quality reporting for providers in affected areas.
Hurricane Irma, which battered the state of Florida in early September prompted an unprecedented number of evacuations from SNFs. The storm came within just days of another serious storm, Hurricane Harvey, which hit the Texas coastline and caused devastating damage.
SNFs are granted exceptions for all Quality Reporting Programs (QRP) reporting requirements for the second and third quarters of 2017. CMS also granted similar reporting exceptions to health care providers in the wake of Harvey.
The exceptions are granted under certain Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs to SNFs and a wide variety of other health care providers — including acute care hospitals, PPS-exempt cancer hospitals, inpatient psychiatric facilities, home health agencies, hospices, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, renal dialysis facilities, and long-term care hospitals — in areas affected by Irma.
The affected areas include 67 counties in Florida within the Federal Emergency Management Administration-designated zone, several Puerto Rico municipalities, and four U.S. Virgin Islands county-equivalents.
Other providers located outside of the areas listed in CMS’ notice can request an exception through the applicable extraordinary circumstances procedure.
Written by Amy Baxter
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