CMS Allows Occupational Therapists to Perform Initial Assessments for Home Health

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to check with your state and accreditation bodies to be sure they are in agreeance with the waivers.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today temporarily suspended a number of rules so that hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities can boost their frontline medical staffs as they fight to save lives during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As a result of CMS actions, Occupational therapists from home health agencies can now perform initial assessments on certain homebound patients, allowing home health services to start sooner and freeing home-health nurses to do more direct patient care. This temporary blanket modification allows OTs to perform the initial and comprehensive assessment for all patients receiving therapy services as part of the plan of care, to the extent permitted under state law, regardless of whether occupational therapy is the service that establishes eligibility. The existing regulations at § 484.55(a) and (b)(2) would continue to apply that OTs and other therapists would not be permitted to perform assessments in nursing only cases. We would continue to expect HHAs to match the appropriate discipline that performs the assessment to the needs of the patient to the greatest extent possible.

“It’s all hands on deck during this crisis,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “All frontline medical professionals need to be able to work at the highest level they were trained for. CMS is making sure there are no regulatory obstacles to increasing the medical workforce to handle the patient surge during the COVID pandemic.”

Since March 30, CMS has issued an array of temporary regulatory waivers and new rules to assist healthcare agencies during the COVID-19 crisis:

Becky Crabtree