Editor’s Note: Click the PDF button above for a full edition of the October 2017 edition of Briefings on Accreditation and Quality’
Time’s almost up: CMS emergency prep CoPs kick in soon
There’s no more excuses for getting ready to meet the new emergency preparedness Conditions of Participation (CoP). The final version of the rules came out in late June, and surveyors with CMS and The Joint Commission will begin assessing compliance with the new emergency management (EM) CoPs on November 15, regardless of the revision timetable.
The Joint Commission pain management dead-line is approaching fast
The Joint Commission finally has prepublished its new and revised pain management standards. They’ll go into effect on January 1, and there is a lot of work to do between now and then. Facilities should assign teams to research best practices in pain management, get the medical staff working on revising protocols and determining how to gather data on pain management effectiveness, and alert your information technology and electronic health records experts that they will be needed.
How to handle malignant hyperthermia
Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is a key focus for surveyors. Schedule drills for staff on finding the emergency carts with the proper drugs to treat MH, ensure the drugs in those carts are kept up to date, and document education and training in their use.
CMS report focuses on AOs’ life safety short-comings
The annual CMS evaluation of accreditation organizations (AO) is out and in the hands of Congress. CMS thinks all the AOs aren’t doing as well as they should in catching violations and is promising Congress that it’s actively working to change that.