November 21, 2023
McKnights Long-Term Care News
Nursing homes will have to publicly disclose information about their medical directors, along with other managing employees, under a new transparency rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The change is cause for celebration according to AMDA–The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. The group said it had been advocating for a public database of nursing home medical directors for more than a decade, according to a Nov. 17 press release.
“AMDA has strongly advocated for the public reporting of nursing home medical directors for many years,” Milta Little, president of AMDA, said in a statement. “We are happy that CMS has addressed this in its new rule.”
AMDA leadership said the rule will enable more informed decision-making by residents, their families and policymakers.
“Providing the public with information about the medical director will ensure that patients and residents, as well as their families, policymakers, and others, will have access to and learn more about the clinical and administrative leader of the facility,” noted Alex Bardakh, senior director of advocacy and strategic partnerships at AMDA.
“The majority of the public has no idea that the medical director even exists in a nursing facility,” Bardakh told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. “That is wrong on many levels.”