Medicare and Medicaid; requirements for long term care facilities--HCFA. Final rule with comment period

These final regulations with comment period revise and consolidate the requirements that facilities furnishing long term care are required to meet to participate in both the Medicare and Medicaid programs. They contain revisions to our proposal of October 16, 1987 (52 FR 38582) based on comments submitted by the public. Long term care facilities include both skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and intermediate care facilities (ICFs) and, as of October 1, 1990, nursing facilities (NF) created by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA '87). Under these regulations, one set of requirements replaces the existing separate ones for SNFs participating in the Medicare program, and for SNFs and ICFs participating in the Medicare program. (After October 1, 1990, SNFs, and ICFs participating in the Medicaid program will be known as nursing facilities (NFs).) Although some essential distinctions imposed by the statute remain, these new requirements reflect common needs in SNFs and ICFs. These regulations do not apply to ICFs for the mentally retarded or persons with related conditions.