F248 and the New Interpretive Guidelines

Most activity professionals are already aware of “F248” (or “FTag 248”), the federal regulations that govern Resident Activities in nursing homes, assisted living sites, and other long-term care facilities.
Understanding F248 is extremely important to all activity professionals. If you fail to comply with the regulations completely, you and your facility can be cited and published as Deficient, fined, or suspended by state surveyors. For the full text of the Federal CMS regulations, please click here.
New “Interpretive Guidelines” for state surveyors went into effect June 1st, 2006, that make major changes in the way they’ll be grading compliance by Activity Departments.
The theme of the new guidelines is a “Culture Change” from “Quality of Care” to “Quality of Life”. Activities are much more important under the new guidelines.
Some of the key ideas being graded under the new Interpretive Guidelines include:

“Person Appropriate” Care

         “Each resident has a personal identity and history that involves more than just their medical illnesses or functional impairments. Activities must be relevant to the specific needs, interests, culture, and background of the individual for whom they are developed.”

The new interpretive guidelines stress treating each of your residents as an individual, keeping track of their personal histories, backgrounds, and interests. The record-keeping requirements under the new rules are staggering, and paper-based systems just aren’t up to the task. Surveyors will be checking to see that your resident information is current and constantly up-to-date. To see how ProActivity Reports can help you meet this new requirement, please click here.

Comprehensive Resident Information is the key to Person Appropriate Care



Activity Program Evaluation Requirement

         “The facility must demonstrate that it has in place a system that supports the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the effectiveness of its Activity Program.”

In addition to helping you plan and implement your activity program, ProActivity Reports is the only system that meets the new CMS Surveyor requirement that you have a systematic approach to evaluating your Activity Program. Its extensive automatic QA/QI reports provide you with a detailed understanding of what’s working and what’s not working in your program.

Extensive Automatic Reports help you Evaluate your Activity Program



Activities Must be Relevant to Residents’ Interests

         “The facility must ensure that it develops and implements activities programs that identify the needs of each resident, in order to assure that each resident is assessed according to his interests, preferences, choices, strengths, and limitations; and receives an individualized, ongoing, and meaningful program of activities that addresses those interests and choices.”

ProActivity Reports’ automatic Population Analysis and automatic Calendar Analysis tools help you prove that you’re providing an activity program that meets the current interests of your residents – with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Automatic Population Analysis and Automatic Calendar Analysis Tools



Activities No Longer Means Just Formal Group Activities

         “Activities include any endeavor, other than ADLs, in which a resident participates that is intended to enhance his well-being. Activities can occur at any time and are not limited to formal activities provided by Activities staff.”

Under the new CMS interpretive guidelines, each facility is responsible for tracking all forms of resident activity, not just formal group activities (like Bingo). In addition to participation and attendance tracking for group activities, ProActivity Reports supports Independent and 1:1 activities. It also provides a fast and convenient way to track Observations of residents’ casual, self-directed activities. For example, if a staff member sees Edith and Carl playing cards in library, the new CMS interpretive guidelines require that that be recorded as an “Observation.”

Track Residents’ Self-Directed Activities as “Observations”



Entire Facility Is Now Responsible, Not Just the Activities Department

         “The facility must provide an ongoing program of activities designed to meet the individual interests and needs of its residents. Persons involved may be any facility staff, volunteers, and visitors.”

The new CMS interpretive guidelines require that all facility staff take responsibility for delivering person-appropriate activities to the residents – not just members of the activity department. All staff are required to assist with providing activities, informing the residents, recording Observations, and providing transportation to activities. ProActivity Reports is a networked multi-user system that lets all facility staff share resident and activity information.

All Facility Staff are now Required to Assist in Delivering Person-Appropriate Activities

 

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