Get your ACTivities together: New CMS regulations in long-term care.

Article: Revised surveyor guidelines for acactivities requirements in long-term care facilities became effective in June 2006. These guidelines have important programmatic, clinical, staff, and cost implications for gerontological nurses, administrators, and other facility staff. The investigative protocol used by surveyors is designed to determine whether a facility has provided a sufficient ongoing activities program that accommodates individual residents’ interests and enhances their physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being, according to each individual’s comprehensive assessment. The protocol details procedures that should be used for each resident in the sample to determine the facility’s compliance with the regulation.