Spotlight

November 2023

Updating Laboratory Email Addresses or Opting in to Email Notifications

In order to update an email address or opt-in to email notifications, a laboratory must give written notification to the State Agency (PDF) where they’re located. Federal jurisdiction laboratories should contact their CMS Location (PDF).

April 2023

2023 Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO) Annual Public Aggregated Performance Report

Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) are critical to making sure as many transplantable organs are procured and made available as possible to people on the organ transplant waiting list. Read an infographic (PDF) about the OPO program and the first report in the 2026 cycle. 

November 2022

Quality in Focus Provider / Supplier Training

CMS developed a series of short (10–15 minutes), Quality in Focus interactive videos tailored for specific provider and supplier types. The series aims to increase the quality of care for people with Medicare and Medicaid by reducing the deficiencies most commonly cited during the CMS survey process, such as infection control and accident prevention. Learn to:

• Understand surveyor evaluation criteria
• Recognize deficiencies
• Incorporate solutions into your facility’s standards of care.

See the Quality, Safety & Education Portal Training Catalog, and find the videos in the Quality in Focus tab.

August 2020

CMS is pleased to announce upgrades to the Quality, Safety & Education Portal (QSEP). QSEP is a learning management system that offers healthcare training to a wide variety of learners, including healthcare providers, accrediting organizations, advocacy groups, educators, and the general public.

To ensure that all learners can access trainings seamlessly, CMS has improved QSEP by updating public access role sign-up functionality and by adding the ability to filter and track trainings. These improvements will make healthcare trainings easier to find, easier to use, and easier to verify for a wide range of users.

Visit qsep.cms.gov today to create an account and access the trainings.

March 2020

CMS is proud to partner with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Clean Hands Count campaign to improve healthcare provider adherence to hand hygiene recommendations, address myths and misperceptions about hand hygiene, and empower patients to play a larger role in their care by asking or reminding healthcare providers to clean their hands.

As a basic tenet of infection control and prevention, CMS expects all Medicare participating healthcare providers to have an infection control and prevention program that includes hand hygiene practices, based on national standards or professional organizational guidelines. For more information:

• Hand Hygiene Initiative: Overview (PDF)
• Hand Hygiene Initiative: FAQs (PDF)
• CDC Clean Hands Count Campaign

January 2018

The Survey and Certification Group has a new name.

As of January 1, 2018, the Survey and Certification Group is now known as the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group (QSOG). Moving forward, memos and various documents will bear the new name. Current Survey and Certification webpages will be updated to reflect the new name in the next couple of days.

Check here for announcements, corrections, and updates related to Survey and Certification Group activities.

• 7/30/09 - CMS announces Recovery Act to Fund 12 State Efforts to Improve Care in Ambulatory Surgical Centers
• 6/20/08 - Descriptive information about the five-star quality rating system is available in the downloads section below
• 11/29/07 - CMS publishes list of Nursing Homes that have a history of serious quality problems
• On 9/19/07, CMS published the final Revisit User Fee Program regulation (CMS-2268-F).