To help State agencies improve the safety and quality of care for long-term residents, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has updated guidance on specific federal requirements and how they will be assessed. Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities (Nursing homes) must meet these requirements to continue to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

These updates to the Long-Term Care (LTC) Facilities Requirements for Participation is a part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s national initiative to promote the safety and quality of nursing home care. A statement released by the White House last February states that “the President believes we must improve the quality of our nursing homes so that seniors, people with disabilities, and others living in nursing homes get the reliable, high-quality care they deserve.

  CMS June 29, 2022 Update:

” Guidance are just one piece of CMS’s ongoing effort to implement President Joe Biden’s vision to protect seniors by improving the safety and quality of our nation’s nursing homes, as outlined in a fact sheet released prior to his first State of the Union Address in March 2022″

Summary of Significant Changes

Additional updates can be viewed at:

Updated Guidance for Nursing Home Resident Health and Safety | CMS

Although there are no new regulations related to resident room capacity, CMS is also calling for nursing homes to reduce the number of residents in each room to preventing infections, to enforce residents’ rights to privacy and to create more of a homelike environment.

LTC facilities will now have the arduous task of ensuring that this updated guidance is being implemented to ensure they continue meet these requirements to participate in Medicare and Medicaid.