This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released
QSO-23-23-NH which reopens the Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program (CMPRP) with many updates to the structure of the program. CMS sites the reason for the reimagined program because over the years, approved projects have grown significantly in cost and scope, causing inconsistent availability and inequities to access across the country. The memo outlines allowable and non-allowable uses of the funds and makes a request for information from facilities regarding facility-wide Wi-Fi. A new application for funding can be found on the updated
CMPRP website.
Facility-Wide Wi-Fi Access
CMS requests that any nursing home that does not have facility-wide Wi-Fi access for all residents to complete an attached form and submit it to CMS by December 22, 2023. Once CMS receives this information, it will assess the number of facilities without full resident access to Wi-Fi to determine if CMP (Civil Money Penalties) funds can be used for a project to help address the issues reported.
Allowable Uses of CMPRP Funds
There are a few specific categories that CMPRP funds may be approved for use. The following categories are allowable uses:
- Resident or Family Councils
- Consumer Information
- Training to Improve Quality of Care
- Activities to Improve Quality of Life
- CMS Developed Global Public Health Emergency (PHE) Applications
- Emergency Use for States
- Administrative Use for States
- Travel Costs for Implementation of Projects
The
memo also provides clarification on the requirement for letters of nursing home support for CMP projects. If anyone other than a nursing home is applying for CMPRP funding, they must provide a letter of support from each facility, prior to receiving funding.
Non-Allowable Uses of CMP Reinvestment Funds
In the memo, CMS provides an updated list of non-allowable uses of CMP funds for projects. Most notably, CMPRP funds will no longer be allowed to be used for highly sophisticated technology projects, such as telemedicine, virtual reality, or artificial intelligence. Menal and Behavioral Health applications will no longer be accepted either, since there is a current project for these services being carried out by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
CMS
announced on September 1, 2023, that it plans to launch a national campaign to help increase the nursing workforce in nursing homes. The memo says more information will be released in the future. CMS will no longer accept Nursing Workforce applications for CMP funding.