Nursing homes have been faced with enormous challenges, especially since the inception of COVID-19, namely financial strains due to low reimbursement rates and increased PPP expenditures, staff shortages and turnover, to name a few. The domino effect has been devastating to some providers. With increasing expectations to improve quality of life and quality of care for nursing home residents, leaders should consider the advantages of a CMP grant.
What is CMPRP? This is an acronym for Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program, a CMS funded initiative that utilizes CMP (Civil Monetary Penalty Funds) to help nursing homes support activities that benefit their residents and that protect and improve their quality of care(QOC) and quality of life (QOL).
The CMS website states that a CMP is a monetary penalty the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may impose against nursing homes for either the number of days or for each instance a nursing home is not in substantial compliance with one or more Medicare and Medicaid participation requirements for long-term care facilities. A portion of the CMPs collected from nursing homes are returned to the states in which CMPs are imposed.
In specifically addressing use of CMP funds to improve QOL/QOC, projects may include those that support resident and family councils and other consumer involvement in assuring quality care in facilities or facility improvement initiatives, such as joint training of faculty, staff and surveyors. Other projects that can be funded through CMP funds can be reviewed on the CMS website.
The application process for CMP funds is determined by each state and each state may differ in its procedures to apply for and receive project funding. Nursing home leaders that are interested in applying for projects may reach out to their states and also to CMP project providers to learn more about programs that would best fit their organizations needs and goals.
The CMP program initiative is an effective public/private sector collaboration to help improve the well-being of residents in our country's nursing homes. There are many well-respected project providers that offer quality projects that, if implemented, provide strong outcomes in improving QOL/QOC, can be a sustainable model for staff training, family engagement and may help to achieve a better educated workforce to care for our vulnerable elderly population.
Pam Brandon is CEO and Founder of AGE-u-cate® Training Institute, a global organization whose mission is to ignite change in aging services by delivering effective and affordable caregiver education and meaningful life enrichment programs, improving the quality of life for older adults. Contact us for CMP information and project assistance.
