CMS updates discharge planning guidelines.

The need for timely and comprehensive discharge planning takes on new importance as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issues revised Discharge Planning Interpretive Guidelines for surveyors to use to assess a hospital's compliance with the Medicare Conditions of Participation. Surveyors will use the guidelines as they review medical records to determine if hospitals are following CMS criteria for evaluating patients, creating a discharge plan, and communicating with the next level of care. The guidelines provide detailed information on how patients should be evaluated to determine the need for discharge planning, how a discharge plan should be developed, and how hospitals should ensure a smooth transition as patients move from one setting to another. For the first time, CMS has included "blue boxes," which give suggestions that hospitals can use to improve discharge planning and transition and urges hospitals to voluntarily adopt them, although they will not be considered in determining compliance.