Hello! I’ve been learning some new stuff that’s happened in the regulatory world, and thought you’d find this helpful as well, as you may not have gotten “the memo”. (Wouldn’t it be nice if that existed?) ?
In lieu of an official memo with regulatory changes, I thought I’d give you the scoop on some of the stuff I’ve learned lately. Here goes!
Emergency Prep Coordination
CMS no longer requires that we show evidence of a contact attempt when coordinating with local, tribal, regional, state and federal EP officials. ASCs still need to try to coordinate with these officials, but facilities no longer need to document delivery. So keep up those coordination efforts, but no more green USPS receipt needed!
Hospital Notification Requirement
CMS is finalizing revisions to §416.41(b)(3) that requires ASCs to “periodically” provide their local hospital with a written notice of its operations and patient population served. For example, the notice would include details such as hours of operation and the procedures that are performed in the ASC.
This new requirement is being instituted in lieu of the requirement of a transfer agreement. According to CMS, providing written notice, rather than securing a transfer agreement, will alleviate the administrative burden of negotiating or being denied negotiating opportunities associated with the written transfer agreement between the ASC and hospital.
What does this mean? Send a “periodic” letter to the leadership of the local hospital letting them know the care you are providing, and to whom. Will keep you updated as we learn more.
PPE Quality Concern
Please be aware of the quality when purchasing PPE from alternate source vendors.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting health care facility risk managers, procurement staff, and health care providers that gowns sold as medical gowns, including surgical gowns, sold by Laws of Motion PPE (LawsofMotionPPE.com) have potential quality issues that affect the level of fluid barrier protection.
The FDA is recommending that gowns manufactured or sold by Laws of Motion PPE should not be used as personal protective equipment at this time while the FDA continues their investigation. Best of luck keeping PPE in stock!
Sodasorb: When should it be changed?
Did you know that Sodasorb has an expiration date? Determining Sodasorb’s efficacy based off of color change alone is not a reliable indicator. It also has a expiration dates and a shelf life, as it will dry out over time.
Check the Sodasorb manufacturer’s instructions for storage criteria, and length of time the container can be ‘open’ on the shelf. Be sure to check all your expiration dates of the Sodasorb in your facility.
Training on Fire Extinguishers
Need a great way to train your staff on fire extinguishers? We love this link we found, that is visual and interactive: http://www.fireextinguishertraining.com/
Online Tools
If you need some tools we’ve created to help you meet your goals, we routinely add new tools and resources to make life easier. Check out our featured tools:
- New! Preference Card Builder! Create and print your preference cards!
- Benchmarking Alliance: Measure key quality indicators for internal and external comparisons. We send you the questions, and you get a completed report with results quarterly
- ASC Solutions Academy: Compliance Courses for you and your staff!
- QAPI Report Builder: We’ll send you our interactive questionnaire. You complete it online, and we send you your completed QAPI report!