(a) Ongoing responsibilities of an approved accreditation organization. An organization approved and recognized by CMS must undertake the following activities on an ongoing basis:

(1) Provide to CMS in writing, on a monthly basis, all of the following:

(i) Copies of all accreditation decisions and any accreditation-related information that CMS may require (including corrective action plans and summaries of unmet quality standards described in §410.144).

(ii) Notice of all complaints related to approved entities.

(iii) Within 30 days of taking remedial or adverse action (including revocation, withdrawal, or revision of an approved entity's deemed status) against an approved entity, information describing the remedial or adverse action and the circumstances that led to taking the action.

(iv) Notice of any proposed changes in its accreditation standards and requirements or evaluation process. If an organization implements changes without CMS approval (other than changes to the NSDSMEP quality standards described in §410.144(b)), CMS may withdraw its approval and recognition of the organization's accreditation program.

(2) If an organization does not use the NSDSMEP quality standards described in §410.144(b), and wishes to change its quality standards that CMS previously approved, the organization must submit its plan to alter its quality standards and include a crosswalk between the set of quality standards described in §410.144 and the organization's revised standards. If an organization implements changes in its quality standards without CMS approval, CMS may withdraw its approval and recognition of the organization's accreditation program.

(3) If CMS notifies an organization that uses the CMS quality standards described in §410.144(a) that it has changed the CMS quality standards, the organization must meet the following requirements:

(i) Submit to CMS, within 30 days of CMS's notification of a change in the quality standards, its organization's plan to alter its quality standards to conform to the revised quality standards described in §410.144(a).

(ii) Implement the changes to its accreditation program by the implementation date specified in CMS's notification of the changes in the quality standards.

(b) CMS oversight of approved national accreditation organizations. CMS, or its agent, performs oversight activities to ensure that an approved organization and the entities the organization accredits continue to meet a set of quality standards described in §410.144. CMS (or its agent) uses the following procedures:

(1) Equivalency review. CMS compares the organization's standards and its application and enforcement of its standards to a set of quality standards (described in §410.144) and processes when any of the following conditions exist:

(i) CMS imposes new requirements or changes its process for approving and recognizing an organization.

(ii) Except for an organization that uses the NSDSMEP quality standards, the organization proposes to adopt new standards or changes its accreditation process.

(iii) The organization reapplies to CMS for continuation of its approval and recognition by CMS of its program to accredit entities to furnish training.

(2) Validation reviews. CMS validates an organization's accreditation process by conducting evaluations of approved entities accredited by the organization and comparing its results to the results of the organization's evaluation of the approved entities.

(3) Onsite inspections. CMS may conduct an onsite inspection of the organization's operations and offices to verify information and assess the organization's compliance with its own policies and procedures. The onsite inspection may include, but is not limited to, reviewing documents, auditing documentation of meetings concerning the accreditation process, evaluating accreditation results or the accreditation status decision making process, and interviewing the organization's staff.

(4) Withdrawal of CMS approval and recognition.

(i) CMS gives an organization written notice of CMS's intent to withdraw its approval and recognition of the organization's program to accredit entities if CMS determines through an equivalency review, validation review, onsite inspection, or CMS's daily experience with the organization that any of the following conditions exist:

(A) Except for those accrediting organizations using quality standards in §410.144(b), the quality standards that the organization applies and enforces do not meet or exceed the CMS quality standards described in §410.144(a).

(B) The organization has failed to meet the requirements for accreditation in §§410.142 through 410.144.

(ii) Request for reconsideration. An organization may request a reconsideration of CMS's decision to withdraw its approval and recognition of the organization in accordance with part 488, subpart D of this chapter.