A new player has entered the field for hospital accreditation: The Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ) has received deeming authority from CMS for acute care hospitals. CIHQ joins The Joint Commission, DNV, Inc., and the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) in this...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 24, Issue 10
We talk often about the cost of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violations in terms of regulatory fines and penalties, and we may also mention that similar privacy regulations with their own fines and penalties exist at the state level.
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 24, Issue 9
A strong culture of patient safety has been and continues to be a critical component in reducing healthcare medical errors. To address this, some facilities are implementing "red rules"-a short set of easy-to-remember, unbreakable flagged practices, with disciplinary consequences if not followed...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 24, Issue 9
Hospitals have seen the publication of many important CMS memos in the past year. Many of these include interpretive guidelines that every hospital should know about. Hospitals should give one person the responsibility of checking the CMS site once a month for updates.
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 24, Issue 9
Every so often, the topic of steam sterilization comes up when discussing infection control issues. I recently came across a fantastic article in the Journal of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) discussing this very topic. The author, Paula Nania, MSN, RN, CNOR,...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 24, Issue 9
In March 2013, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) began presenting the results of its random audits for HIPAA and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act compliance. To date, the results have been discussed in two different presentations, which have been posted on the...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 24, Issue 8
On April 5, 2013, CMS released a proposed rule to the Survey, Certification and Enforcement Procedures, at 42 CFR §488 and 42 CFR §489. The proposed rule significantly strengthens the oversight by CMS over the national accreditation organizations (AO).
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 24, Issue 8
In an interesting turn, the FDA has released recommendations for improving cybersecurity for medical devices and hospital networks. In this month's column, we will review those recommendations and also hear from the field, which has been working hard long before the FDA's announcement to stay...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 24, Issue 8
Welcome to "HIPAA demystified," the first in an ongoing series. Everyone now lives in a world of HIPAA, yet many-indeed, most of us-are not professional practitioners, but simply people who brush against HIPAA daily. Yet compliance is still required, with specific obligations under the ...
