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LSC engineer to scrutinize your hospital's EC issues

Briefings on The Joint Commission, February 1, 2005

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The addition of a Life Safety Code® (LSC) engineer on JCAHO survey teams this year means survey coordinators should expect increased scrutiny of LSC and environment of care (EC) areas, experts say.

In January the JCAHO began dispatching LSC specialists with survey teams to hospitals with more than 200 beds. Although the engineering surveyors are only on site for one day, they will be talking to staff, touring buildings, and scrutinizing your hospital's LSC areas, such as your:

The LSC specialist is responsible for evaluating LSC and EC standards, according to published JCAHO reports, and for educating organizations during surveys about compliance issues, opportunities for improvement, and necessary "remedial action." Your cost for a LSC specialist visit: $3,500.

The addition to the survey team is in response to a summer 2004 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that showed serious fire safety deficiencies in hospitals found by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) validation surveys. The GAO said the JCAHO allegedly didn't identify most of the problems in its visits.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Briefings on The Joint Commission.

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