Hundreds of people in U.S. hospitals have been sickened by exposure to deadly bacteria on poorly disinfected, but routinely used diagnostic scopes. Additionally, several hospitals have been hit by major fines and loss of accreditation for failure to adhere to strict regulations requiring...
On June 2, CMS issued a new memo to surveyors on the importance of reducing cases of Legionella infections. Accredited facilities should double check their waterborne pathogens compliance, as surveyors will likely pay more attention to it in upcoming surveys.
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 28, Issue 6
Editor’s note: This is the first year that Medicaid in all 50 states has adopted some form of telemedicine coverage. While technology has allowed for new and creative ways to connect patients and providers, deciphering the laws surrounding them can be difficult. The rules...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 28, Issue 6
Editor’s note: The following is an article written by Maria Del Pilar Messner, corporate director of accreditation, regulations, and licensing at Adventist Health.
On May 18, 2012, CMS initiated the Patient Safety Initiative which included...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 28, Issue 6
After a year of anticipation, Joint Commission surveyors finally started checking for compliance with the 2012 Life Safety Code® (LSC) and Health Care Facilities Code. The changes apply to the accreditor’s Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) chapters. One set of chapter revisions took...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 28, Issue 6
There's been much ado about The Joint Commission's new scoring system, the Survey Analysis for Evaluating Risk (SAFER) matrix. The matrix is a 3 x 3 grid with the Y-axis ranking the likelihood of a problem occurring and the X-axis measuring how widespread the issue is. The matrix replaced the...
For the second time in three years, The Joint Commission has released a Quick Safety issue on the topic of improperly sterilized or high-level disinfection (HLD) equipment and devices. The accreditor writes that despite bringing the problem to light in 2014, there’s an increase in cases of...
Hospitals face many challenges in regard to active shooter risk such as providing care to victims of shootings and being prepared in the event a shooting situation occurs at the hospital. In times of crisis, it is imperative that proper protocol is followed to minimize risk to workers and...
The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are considering both the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2017 and the Medicare Telehealth Parity Act (MTPA). The two bills are aimed at lowering CMS restrictions on telemedicine...
As of Monday, May 15, more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries were hit by a ransomware virus called “Wanna Cry.” One of the most notable victims of Wanna Cry was the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS). At least 25 NHS hospitals had to reroute patients and cancel appointments...
