CMS Releases Advance Copy of Emergency Preparedness Interpretive Guidelines

​On June 2, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an advance copy of Appendix Z of the State Operations Manual (SOM), which contains the interpretive guidelines and survey procedures for the Emergency Preparedness Final Rule. CMS states that it has compiled the requirements into a single appendix because the Conditions of Participation, Conditions for Coverage, and requirements "apply across all 17 providers and suppliers and only vary slightly."