Don’t let weighing in weigh you down…

In what I would term an interesting move (I don’t know that I would go so far as to call it unprecedented, but it might well could be), our friends in Chicago are rearranging the deck chairs in the Emergency Management chapter. It does seem like it’s more of  a consolidation than a wholesale rewrite, but the strategy of setting up new standard and performance element numbers makes this potentially a big deal (as we know, surveyors tend to focus on the stuff that has changed since the last survey visit, so if you’re using the existing numerical indicators, you’ll likely need to change—or get rid of them entirely). I suspect this may have more to do with trying to align the existing EM standards et al. with the CMS requirements (It will be interesting to see if they end up developing a crosswalk—probably when it’s adopted).

While I can’t say that I’ve digested the whole thing, it does seem like they removed a lot of the specifics relating to the management of LIP volunteers (including an allowance for organizations to forego the use of volunteers, a strategy they had never really “approved”; I know a couple of instances in which organizations were cited for declining to use volunteers), but it makes me wonder what degree of specificity is going to come into play when they start surveying to this.

That said, I don’t see anything that’s giving me heartburn; since CMS based Appendix Z on much of the TJC standards from 2007-ish, what was once old (and abandoned) is now fresh and new and cutting edge. I have the same hopes for myself over time…

At any rate, the critical processes are still represented. I think it will show over time that some of the specificity of the current standards pushed folks to do things that didn’t necessarily make sense from an organizational standpoint, but I guess we’ll have to wait until the final version is out and about and able to take care of itself. I’m guessing substantive changes are not likely to be made at this point, but they are asking for comments, so if you’ve got a mind to say something, I would encourage you to do so.

Next week we’ll chat a little bit about some recent interpretive dances from the perspective of Perspectives. Stay tuned!

About the Author: Steve MacArthur is a safety consultant with The Greeley Company in Danvers, Mass. He brings more than 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is contributing editor for Healthcare Safety Leader. Contact Steve at stevemacsafetyspace@gmail.com.