CMS eases up on COVID-19 vaccination verification during regular surveys

We’re seeking an accreditation expert to review and update our book CMS Compliance Crosswalk. The job would entail going through the crosswalk and updating the regulations for CMS and other hospital accreditation organizations.

Qualified candidates will have a background in healthcare accreditation and standards, and prior writing experience is preferred.

Interested applicants should contact bward@hcpro.com

CMS wants to suspend calculations of hospital penalties for hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) for fiscal 2025 year because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as revise the information it collects from some critical access hospitals (CAH) on deaths with restraint or seclusion, but it wants public input first.

Now that hospitals and other healthcare providers have had time to meet the CMS staff COVID-19 vaccination requirements, CMS is easing up on verification.

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.

Security has always been a priority for healthcare leaders but in the wake of the mass shooting at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, hospital that left four people dead, and a second hospital shooting that occurred on the same day in Dayton, Ohio, executives realize there are gaps in their safety strategies that must be addressed. Increasing security measures at hospitals can come with significant financial and logistical challenges, but there are actionable steps and investments healthcare leaders can take to ensure the safety of the staff and patients within their organizations.

Lately it seems that I’ve been running into risk assessments that “feel” more like incomplete thoughts in that all the risks within the assessed environment are not represented.

…and perhaps more importantly, the “why” you do the things you do.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 7 issued an update to the COVID-19 emergency declaration blanket waivers for specific providers.

CMS officials say they will continue to review the need for existing emergency blanket waivers issued in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. However, it found over the past two-plus years that skilled nursing facilities/nursing facilities (SNF/NF), inpatient hospices, intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF/IID), and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facilities have developed policies or other practices that mitigate the need for certain waivers.

Survey says? Hopefully a bunch of good stuff.

The Life Safety Code® (LSC) & Health Care Facilities Code (HCFC) survey is conducted in accordance with the appropriate protocols and regulations to determine whether a citation of noncompliance is appropriate, according to CMS officials.

Deficiencies, they note, are based on a violation of a statute or regulation. In turn, a deficiency is to be based on a surveyor’s observations of the provider's performance or practices

Although healthcare has always been fast-paced and complex, the pandemic has amplified these challenges and introduced dynamics that can put patient safety and quality care at risk. Mounting staff shortages due to unprecedented levels of burnout are forcing hospitals and health systems to care for high-acuity patients with fewer staff.

Someone’s always checking for compliance when it comes to fire safety, especially in healthcare facilities. Naturally, that includes several regulatory agencies: CMS, The Joint Commission (TJC), Department of Health, and the local fire department, just to name a few. They will all be looking for evidence of compliance, patterns of negligence, and participation records for select staff.

Of course, a good fire prevention and compliance program includes successful fire drills. And those drills should involve a bit more than just pulling an alarm randomly and seeing how quickly staff respond.

Here are some tips for running fire drills in healthcare facilities.

Last week we went over advice on how to craft a healthcare or policy message—one meant to alert people to the dangers of a certain disease and offer actions to improve compliance. Public health communications can and have caused confusion, mistrust, and harm when not crafted or implemented correctly.

Kenyon Farrow, managing director of advocacy and organization at PReP4All, warned attendees at the Peggy Lillis Foundation’s annual National C. diff Advocates Summit in May about some of the common mistakes he sees in healthcare messaging.

Better environmental rounds was a chief recommendation for acute care and critical access hospitals who had maintenance problems with their equipment as well as issues with air supply and return vents, stained ceiling tiles, and unsafe storage of supplies, according to the recently released 2021 annual report by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care, which now includes HFAP.

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.

The term “precision medicine” is most commonly associated with targeted therapy selection, or the practice of using biomarkers or genetic data to identify the most effective drug for a specific patient. While targeted therapies have been instrumental for oncology patients in particular, precision medicine encompasses much more than drug selection. The field also includes precision dosing, the process of using multiple patient characteristics to tailor the dosing regimen to the patient, thereby maximizing the concentration-related efficacy of a drug while minimizing the risk of toxicity.

Conducting an assessment is the first step to esnure compliance with The Joint Commission's workplace violence prevention requirements.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could be poised to change how healthcare makes use of ultrasound early in a pregnancy.