Peer review, as it applies in today’s healthcare landscape, involves the evaluation of an individual practitioner’s professional performance for all relevant competency categories. It draws from multiple sources of data and identifies opportunities to improve care. Given these important aims,...
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reached another resolution during its ongoing effort to ensure the comprehensive enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s right of access provision.
The most recent manifestation of CMS’s intent to keep the improvements coming focuses on an expansion of the scope of onsite surveys to include all off-site locations, eliminates things like daily huddles during surveys, limits how accreditation organizations can “sell” consulting and education...
Hospitals must ensure patients are not subject to sensitive examinations while under anesthesia without providers and trainees first obtaining and documenting the patient’s informed consent, according to revised interpretive guidance released by CMS in April.
A while back (I can’t really say how long ago, but certainly before COVID), there was a fair amount of survey focus on environmental considerations for performing bronchoscopy procedures. In general, the expectation was that routine bronchs would be done under negative pressure and if you had to...
A 2024 proposal from CMS could cost accreditation organizations (AO) millions and completely change the accreditation survey process. If Congress passes the proposal, AOs would have to survey all off-site locations, eliminate daily huddles, and limit their charges for consulting and education...
On February 15, 2024, CMS issued a proposed rule that included multiple new requirements for all accreditation organizations (AO), specifically mentioning The Joint Commission (TJC) as an example. If passed, the rule would have a significant financial impact on AOs. CMS estimated TJC would lose...
The landscape of healthcare compliance has continued to evolve, influenced by new standards, ongoing challenges, and the lingering impacts of the pandemic. In this interview with Marge McFarlane, we delve into integrating new recommendations from ASHE, enhancing knowledge transfer amid high...
Assessing compliance with the LSC has always been a tricky proposition, since a deficiency that is obvious to one individual might not be so obvious to another, based on surveyors’ different levels of knowledge.
This is Part 2 of our interview with Kurt Patton, MS, RPH, founder of Patton Healthcare Consulting and a former director of accreditation services for The Joint Commission (TJC). He is joined by Jennifer Cowel, RN, MHSA, president of Patton Healthcare Consulting...
