CMS announced it is combining the interpretive guidelines that its surveyors use for psychiatric hospitals into the main Appendix A for hospitals, eliminating the need for double survey visits.
CMS is revising its State Operations Manual (SOM) for hospitals in one of the first significant overhauls in more than a year. But be aware that the changes are not fully online yet and more revisions are to come.
As of January 1, CMS eliminated the paper version of the form to report patient deaths associated with restraint or seclusion. Form CMS-10455 must now be filed through an electronic version.
Healthcare compliance changed quite a bit in the last decade. For one thing, fire safety moved into the current millennium with the adoption of the 2012 versions of NFPA 101 Life Safety Code® (LSC) and NFPA 99 Health Care Facilities Code®.
HFAP provided a handy list of what CoPs were to change, and stated that “all regulations are effective November 29, 2019 with the exceptions of those regarding QAPI in CAHs and the antibiotic stewardship programs in acute care hospitals and CAHs, which are effective at later dates, as noted.”...
Watch for information on possible changes to medical record, nursing, and patients’ rights standards from The Joint Commission (TJC), HFAP, and other accrediting organizations now that CMS has published a final rule on discharge planning.
While the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) announced another round of delays in September in implementing new requirements for pharmaceutical compounding, your local authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) may still require them.
Expect CMS and other accrediting organizations to be looking at how you ensure hospital Conditions of Participation (CoP) are met in your shared areas.
