Medicare Skilled Nursing Home Quality Care Amendments of 1986

Medicare Skilled Nursing Home Quality Care Amendments of 1986 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to set forth requirements for skilled nursing facilities (other than facilities for the mentally retarded), including requirements that such facilities: (1) primarily engage in providing inpatients with nursing care or rehabilitation services directed toward inpatients' mental, psychosocial, and physical well-being; (2) create and revise written plans for patient care after assessing, upon the patient's admission and periodically thereafter, the patient's needs as well as the patient's social and familial resources available to meet those needs; (3) protect specified patient rights; (4) provide care to patients regardless of the source of payment for such care; (5) safeguard a patient's funds upon the patient's authorization; (6) require a physician's supervision of each patient's care, the maintenance of clinical records on all patients, and 24-hour nursing services; (7) adopt certain measures to preserve facility safety and sanitation; and (8) meet such other conditions which the Secretary of Health and Human Services deems necessary for patient health and safety. Directs the Secretary to: (1) designate an instrument(s) for nursing facilities to use in assessing a patient's needs as well the patient's social and familial resources available to meet those needs; and (2) make appropriate modifications to and periodically report to the Congress regarding the assessment process.

Makes the Secretary responsible for certifying that State nursing facilities comply, and States responsible for certifying that other nursing facilities comply with Medicare nursing facility requirements. Bases such certification on surveys to be conducted upon any change in the ownership of such a facility and, on an unannounced basis, at nine-to-15-month intervals. Subjects facilities with poor compliance records to extended surveys. Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop and test a protocol for conducting surveys; (2) train surveyors in the use of patient assessment instruments; and (3) conduct sample surveys of nursing facilities to test the adequacy of State surveys; and (4) reduce Federal payments for State survey costs or terminate State authority to conduct Medicare compliance surveys if such State surveys prove inadequate. Requires States to maintain a process for investigating complaints regarding nursing facilities. Requires that survey results and facility cost report information be available to the public.

Requires that when the Secretary determines that a nursing facility's deficiencies immediately jeopardize residents' health and safety, such facility's participation in Medicare be terminated. Authorizes the application of certain other remedies where the health and safety of facility residents are not immediately jeopardized.