Electronic Plan of Correction (ePOC) is a new initiative by CMS and the Alaska Department of Health that requires Medicare-certified facilities to receive survey statements of deficiency and send survey plans of correction though a new electronic submission system. As of January 1st, 2016, all Alaska Medicare-certified long term care facilities will be required to use the ePOC system to receive their statements of deficiency and send their plans of correction. Facilities that do not have users signed up to use the ePOC system will risk being out of compliance.

 

At this time CMS is only making the ePOC available to certified nursing facilities.

 

Alaska’s HFL&C plans to implement the ePOC process for all nursing facilities in January 2016.  Enrollment with QTSO for providers is available now. Your facility must be ready to use the ePOC system as this is the only way the Statement of Deficiencies (SoD) will be made available. As the system is implemented, facilities will be notified of the availability of their survey online at the time of their survey.

 

 

CMS has created a webinar to explain how nursing facilities will use the system for processing their plans of correction using the ePOC process. On the website choose the training for providers and you will be prompted for a password.  We ask that you view the webinar prior to enrolling for your IDs for the system.  The webinar is approximately 53 minutes. You may access webinar slides below:

 

Facility User Sign-Up

 

Access to your online SOD requires advance enrollment in ePOC.  Users will need to apply for two log-in IDs in order to access the CMS ePOC system.  The first login is the CMSnet login, which allows users to connect to the ePOC system.  The second login is the ePOC Personal Login Account. This allows access to the ePOC system once connected using the first login.

 

Users who currently have access to the MDS system and already have a CMSnet and Personal Login ID for those systems can use those logins for ePOC; however, they will still need to request ePOC access to be added for the second login.

 

Go to ePOC Access Information to access the website for instructions on enrolling for these log-in IDs, or use the document that has been provided with this letter that outlines these same instructions. to access the website for instructions on enrolling for these log-in IDs, or use the document that has been provided with this letter that outlines these same instructions.

 

Below are the complete CMS facility sign-up instructions for ePOC. Facility users must read and complete all steps in the instructions in order to successfully sign up.

 

Technical Assistance

 

If you need any technical assistance with the video or accessing the ePOC enrollment forms please contact the help desk at the QIES Technical Support Office (QTSO) help@qtso.com.

 

If you have any other questions, you may contact our office at 907-334-2483.