Nursing home inspections are performed approximately every 12 months to assure compliance with State and Federal regulations.  During the inspection process, the surveyor relies on interpretive guidelines formulated by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to clarify and/or explain the intent of federal regulations.

In accordance with Section 6121 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the interpretive guidelines that apply to the training of nurse aides in nursing homes were revised in August of this year.  The revised interpretive guidelines mandate that all nurse aides receive training on dementia management and patient abuse prevention.

Federal regulations require that long-term care facilities complete a performance review of every nurse aide at least once ever 12 months and provide regular in-service education based on the outcome of those reviews.  See 42 CFR 483.75(e)(8).  CMS has indicated that it is currently working on a revision of the federal regulation to reflect the new training mandate.