Report to Congress: Review of Medicare’s Program Oversight of Accrediting Organizations and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments

To increase transparency for consumers, CMS will post new information on the CMS.Gov website, including the latest quality of care deficiency findings following complaint surveys at facilities accredited by AOs, a list of providers determined by CMS to be currently out of compliance that also references the provider’s AO, and overall performance data for the AOs themselves. • CMS is also testing a more streamlined, effective way to assess AOs’ ability to ensure that facilities and suppliers comply with CMS requirements.

Historically, CMS has measured the effectiveness of AOs by choosing a sample of facilities and suppliers, performing a state-conducted assessment survey within 60 days following an AO survey, and comparing results. In a pilot test, CMS will eliminate the second state-conducted validation survey and instead use direct observation during the original AO-run survey to evaluate the AO surveyors’ ability to assess compliance with CMS Conditions of Participation.

Source: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/Policy-and-Memos-to-States-and-Regions-Items/QSO19-01-AO-CLIA.html?DLPage=1&DLEntries=10&DLSort=3&DLSortDir=descending