In an update this week sent to state survey agency directors from the Quality, Safety & Oversight Group (QSOG) and Survey & Operations Group (SOG) of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the feds clarified the accrediting organization’s (AO’s) and state’s roles when a provider or supplier’s “deemed status” has been temporarily removed.

Deemed status means that a certified provider or supplier is in good standing under Medicare because it has been accredited by a CMS-approved accreditation organization and is a “deemed provider/supplier.”

CMS said it inspects the standards and processes utilized by such accreditation organizations periodically, and if CMS determines that the AO’s standards and processes meet or exceed applicable Medicare requirements, CMS approves “deeming authority” for the AO for specific types of providers and suppliers.

Any provider or supplier thereafter surveyed by such approved AO and found to have met Medicare’s regulatory standards is recognized as a “deemed” provider or supplier, CMS said.

For the update, the agency said AOs must suspend or postpone any Medicare deeming recertification survey until the CMS location restores deemed status, regardless of the provider’s/supplier’s deeming cycle.

CMS said the impact on AO’s is that “if an organization’s deemed 36-month cycle lapses while the organization is under the temporary jurisdiction of the State Survey Agency, CMS will not consider the AO late or as having missed a survey, among other clarifications.