Links to Q&A from each session are posted below.  Please check back for additional and updates. Hand outs and archived recordings for each session are posted by date with their individual session description below.

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new survey and certification letter that revises guidance to surveyors for several requirements related to quality of life and environment. As a result, surveys after June 17, 2009 will be conducted with a sharpened focus on elements of quality of life. These revisions were developed following a national symposium on person-centered living environments, Creating Home in the Nursing Home, co-sponsored by CMS and Pioneer Network.
 
The new guidelines enhance instructions to surveyors on how to evaluate compliance with areas such as resident choices about daily schedule, (including when to get up, go to bed, eat, and bathe) visitation issues, homelike environment, food procurement, and expand significantly on guidance related to lighting.

The series offered a unique, valuable and timely opportunity for providers to hear directly from CMS Division of Nursing Homes Deputy Director, Karen Schoeneman, MPA, who developed, wrote, and oversees the enforcement of these new guidelines.  Ms. Schoeneman participated in both Webinars and provided participants with the background, intent and implications of the new guidelines for each of the F Tags.  Debra Swinton-Spears, MS, Nurse Consultant with CMS Division of Nursing Homes who authored both F371 and its revision, provided additional clarification on the food procurement portion and its revision.   Ms. Schoeneman and Ms. Swinton-Spears were joined by nationally recognized consultants with significant experience helping nursing homes adopt the resident-centered care delivery systems and personalized physical environments that are the focus of these new guidelines who shared proven methods and processes for incorporating these culture change practices into every day nursing home life.