CMS Safety & Infection Control 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Medicare's Conditions of Participation, how frequently must long-term care facilities conduct infection control risk assessments?
- Annually (Correct answer)
- Every six months
- Quarterly
- Monthly
Correct answer: Annually
CMS requires long-term care facilities to conduct a facility-wide infection control risk assessment at least annually.
Question 2: Which CMS measure tracks catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) as a hospital-acquired condition?
- HAC Reduction Program (Correct answer)
- Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program
- Value-Based Purchasing Program
- Merit-based Incentive Payment System
Correct answer: HAC Reduction Program
The Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program penalizes hospitals with high rates of conditions including CAUTI.
Question 3: What does the CMS 'Never Event' policy mean for Medicare reimbursement?
- Medicare will not pay additional costs for treating serious preventable errors (Correct answer)
- Medicare denies the entire hospital claim when any error occurs
- Medicare requires mandatory malpractice reporting for all errors
- Medicare automatically discharges beneficiaries after an error
Correct answer: Medicare will not pay additional costs for treating serious preventable errors
CMS designates certain serious preventable events as 'Never Events' and will not reimburse hospitals for the additional costs incurred to treat them.
Question 4: A CMS-certified home health agency must ensure staff use which standard precaution when changing a wound dressing?
- Gloves and hand hygiene before and after (Correct answer)
- Full PPE including gown, gloves, and N95 mask
- Sterile surgical gloves only
- No PPE is required for minor wound care
Correct answer: Gloves and hand hygiene before and after
Standard precautions require gloves for contact with blood or body fluids and hand hygiene before and after glove use.
Question 5: Which CMS condition of participation requires hospitals to have an active infection prevention and control program?
- 42 CFR Part 482.42 (Correct answer)
- 42 CFR Part 482.13
- 42 CFR Part 482.21
- 42 CFR Part 482.11
Correct answer: 42 CFR Part 482.42
42 CFR §482.42 specifically mandates that hospitals maintain an active infection prevention and control program as a Condition of Participation.
Question 6: What is the primary purpose of Medicare's Quality Reporting Programs related to safety?
- To publicly report facility performance and tie payment to quality outcomes (Correct answer)
- To exclusively punish low-performing facilities with license revocation
- To mandate daily safety audits by CMS surveyors
- To require all providers to use the same electronic health record system
Correct answer: To publicly report facility performance and tie payment to quality outcomes
Medicare Quality Reporting Programs collect and publicly report safety and quality data, using payment incentives and penalties to improve outcomes.
Question 7: When a Medicare-certified skilled nursing facility identifies a cluster of respiratory illness among residents, what is the first required action?
- Implement outbreak management protocols and notify the local health department (Correct answer)
- Immediately discharge all symptomatic residents to hospitals
- Suspend all admissions for 30 days
- File a complaint with the Office of Inspector General
Correct answer: Implement outbreak management protocols and notify the local health department
CMS requires SNFs to implement outbreak protocols and report disease clusters to the local or state health department promptly.
CMS Safety & Infection Control 2
Under Medicare's Conditions of Participation, how frequently must long-term care facilities conduct infection control risk assessments?