CMS issued several Quality, Safety & Oversight Group (QSO) memos in late May and early June, including two updating COVID-19 survey requirements and another updating the State Operations Manual Appendix L.
Standardize how your hospital manages its medical supplies to ensure that they are safely stored, updated, and available when needed. Also be sure to approve policies, procedures, plans, and related documents as required—even amid a long-term emergency.
Review your hospital’s practices for storing sterile devices and supplies now that three of the four hospital accrediting organizations (AO) have recently cited concerns about improper storage.
CMS approved The Joint Commission’s (TJC) hospital accreditation program for just another three years. If not for the pandemic, that time span might have been longer.
The updated infection control risk assessment (ICRA) tool for construction, renovation, and operations might be longer, but it is more user-friendly and eliminates some of the guesswork from the old version, say consultants and users in the field.
Even if your facility does not regularly handle labor and delivery, be sure to include the emergency department (ED) in planning and education to address problems such as maternal hemorrhage and severe hypertension/preeclampsia, as required by the still-new maternal health standards.
Noting a rise in COVID-19 cases in four out of five states in late April and early May, The Joint Commission (TJC) sent out a reminder to stay masked during survey.
Various accreditors require you to measure the competency of an advanced practice practitioner (APP), such as a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, based on the work they’ve done recently at your organization. However, when APPs are low-volume practitioners, meaning they don’t see enough...
Short of terminating a physician’s employment, appraising a physician’s performance is often the responsibility that administrative and medical staff leaders hate most.
