I thought I’d do a piece each week between now and the end of the year that outlines our goals for the coming year. I’ll start with Licensing this week…
We’ll continue on our quest to make the most of our time and effort during our surveys. We’re already doing a good job now, but as we press through 2011, I’d like to continue our efforts to focus on high-priority survey elements. The best use of our time is to focus on the things that matter the most, so that we identify important deficient practices and so that we leave a clear picture of what’s important with our licensees. We’ll also continue to develop our relationships with associations and stakeholder groups so we can leverage our time. As part of this effort, I’ve scheduled meetings with each of the associations that represent our licensees between now and the end of the year to talk about big-picture priorities and to find new ways for us to work together to improve the quality of the 1000’s of places we license and inspect.
Over the course of the coming year, I’d like to overhaul behavioral health rules to streamline requirements and oversight and improve our efficient use of time in the field- as well as make it easier for facilities to provide both psychiatric care and acute care services- something that’s a challenge under our current rules. We’ll also be developing new rules for child care homes. In terms of enforcement, we’ll be reevaluating the way we approach to Civil Money Penalty assessment so that we’re more creative and use that tool to drive positive change rather than as a strictly punitive instrument. Finally, I’d like to continue to make some progress on our electronic licensing project by expanding electronic licensing tools into skilled nursing and medical facilities.
