Office of Inspector General Report: State Survey Agencies Need Additional Guidance to Assess Nursing Home Emergency Preparedness Programs
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a report, "State Survey Agencies Need Additional Guidance to Assess Nursing Home Emergency Preparedness Programs."
The OIG report, released March 2025, has drawn attention to a critical gap in nursing home oversight: emergency preparedness assessment.
Findings include:
- A quarter of state survey agencies reported that surveyors typically lack emergency preparedness expertise when hired, and building and retaining this expertise is challenging.
- CMS program guidance is more focused on documents to collect to demonstrate compliance with emergency preparedness rules than on assessing the content of those documents.
- Nearly one-half of state survey agencies reported successes that go beyond CMS guidance, including (1) information sharing with emergency preparedness partners and (2) additional tools and resources to enhance CMS guidance.
The report also offers recommendations to CMS.
Read a related McKnights Long-term Care article, "OIG Cites Nursing Home Surveyors’ Lack of Expertise in Emergency Preparedness."
Learn more about the OIG report.
Go to the OIG report PDF.
