Committee approves bill letting counties augment state nursing‑home surveys if inspections fall six months behind

The Health and Government Operations Committee on April 2 approved amendments to House Bill 429 that would let counties augment state nursing‑home survey staff with county funds if the Maryland Department of Health is six months or more behind required Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) survey intervals.

The bill, as amended, requires the Department of Health to start a memorandum of understanding within 45 days of a county request and to develop a plan for how the county augmentation would operate. It also establishes reporting requirements so the department must provide localities information every six months about which nursing homes in each locality have had required surveys completed and the department’s statewide progress toward meeting CMS intervals.

Vice Chair Bonnie Collison, speaking as sponsor of the amended language, summarized the committee’s work and the department’s progress: “They have indeed put a number of things in place to fix it and as…