Page 22 - Occupational Health & Safety, November 2017

HEALTH CARE
CMS Emergency Preparedness Training Deadline is Here, Are you Ready?
The assumption is that all the accrediting organizations and CMS will be looking more deeply at Emergency Management standards starting this November.
BY JOHN M. ELISZEWSKI
On Sept. 16, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule instituting new emergency prepared- ness requirements for health care facilities
that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid pro- grams. The implementation date for the Conditions of Participation (CoP) requirement is Nov. 15, 2017. The new regulations apply to 17 provider types, including hospitals, critical access hospitals (CAH), ambulatory surgical centers, and long-term care facilities.
This rule establishes national emergency prepared- ness requirements that include adequately planning for disasters that fall on a continuum between disrup- tive to disastrous. Also, organizations must define their response to emergencies and how they will collaborate and coordinate with federal, state, tribal, regional, and
local emergency preparedness systems. The bottom line is health care facilities must develop a comprehen- sive Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) that will meet the needs of patients, the community, and their staff during disasters and emergency situations.
Of the three hospital accrediting agencies, The Joint Commission (TJC), Healthcare Facilities Ac- creditation Program (HFAP), and Det Norske Veri- tas, Inc. (DNV), TJC accounts for approximately 80 percent of the health care accreditations and certifica- tions. The CoPs state that a hospital that is compliant with TJC standards should be mostly compliant with CMS standards. The assumption is that all the accred- iting organizations and CMS will be looking more deeply at Emergency Management (EM) standards starting this November. Looking at TJC’s inspection
22 Occupational Health & Safety | NOVEMBER 2017
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