CMS Targets Social Media Privacy Violations

Editorial note – On August 5, 2016, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) outlined its expectations for state nursing home survey agencies, regarding how to protect resident privacy and prevent abuse, and privacy violations by staff posts to social media platforms. In the letter, CMS told state survey agencies that within 30 days, they needed to begin examining nursing home policies on social media, including how nursing homes can prevent staff from using cameras and smartphones to photograph residents, and then post those images on social media.

Recent media reports have highlighted occurrences of nursing home . . .