Free Accreditation e-Newsletters

Accreditation Insider Patient Safety Monitor Insider

Accreditation Insider

AHAP is a community in which survey coordinators and other accreditation specialists share the latest tested tips, tools, and strategies to implement successful accreditation programs and achieve professional growth. In this e-newsletter, you'll read helpful tips and timely news items related to accreditation and survey-readiness improvement. Plus, train your staff and yourself with our weekly quiz questions included with clickable answers.

Subscribe »

2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

Issue 34, August 14, 2018

• Be ready for surveyor focus on dialysis

   Surveyors from CMS and The Joint Commission are taking an interest in dialysis compliance...

Issue 33, August 7, 2018

• New CMS guidance on ligature risk says Joint Commission recommendations set the bar

   Expect CMS surveyors to be referring to recommendations set out by The Joint Commission last...

• Accreditation 101: A Toolkit for Accreditation Professionals

   Accreditation 101: A Toolkit for Accreditation Professionals provides a road map to the new...

Issue 32, July 31, 2018

• Survey: 36% of facilities struggle to meet TJC MRI standards

  A new survey found that 36% of medical resonance imaging (MRI) providers do not comply with The...

Issue 31, July 24, 2018

• ECRI resuscitates healthcare clearinghouse data

  The ECRI Institute will step in to provide critical healthcare data that otherwise became...

Issue 30, July 17, 2018

• CMS Revises Memo on Requirements to Reduce Risk of Legionella Infection

   Be prepared for renewed interest in your water management program and especially how it is...

• Infection-Free Vaccination: Safely Storing, Handling, Injecting, and Infusing Medications

  During this 90-minute webinar, expert speaker Terri Rebmann, PhD, RN, CIC, FAPIC, will explain how...

Issue 28, July 10, 2018

• Study: CMS Penalties for Hospital-Acquired Conditions Have Little Impact

   A study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology found that hospitals may...

Issue 27, July 3, 2018

• Catheters Pose More Risks Than Just CAUTIs

   UTIs are five times less common than non-infectious problems caused by indwelling urinary...

• Accreditation Focus Group

   This July we’re going to be running two Accreditation and Quality focus groups. The...

Issue 25, June 26, 2018

• Human Trafficking and Healthcare

   This June, The Joint Commission released Quick Safety Issue 42 on identifying human...

Issue 24, June 19, 2018

• CMS Delays Hospital Star Ratings Update, Again

   Citing “stakeholder concerns,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services...

Issue 23, June 12, 2018

• AHRQ Data Shows Drop in Hospital-Acquired Conditions

   A new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found that...

Issue 22, June 5, 2018

• Dead Woman Found in Stairway of SF Hospital Building

  In an incident eerily reminiscent of one that occurred five years ago, a woman was found dead last...

• Occurrence Reporting: How to Report, Identify, and Resolve Problems

  In this webinar, performance improvement expert Kenneth R. Rohde provides practical techniques and...

Issue 21, May 22, 2018

• AORN Expects to Revise its Guideline for OR Headwear

  For the coverage of ears, AORN is “probably going to come out in our new guideline and say...

• Report: Medication Errors Led to Patient Death at Boston Children?s Hospital

  Boston Children’s Hospital was threatened with termination from Medicare last year after...

Issue 20, May 15, 2018

• National Guidelines, Quality Measures Clearinghouses Shutting Down

   If you or anyone at your hospital use the National Guidelines Clearinghouse or National...

Issue 19, May 8, 2018

• New NFPA Standard Focuses on Responding to Active-Shooter Incidents

  Early this year, the NFPA promised to fast-track a new standard to help first responders...

Issue 18, May 1, 2018

• Study: Improvement in Errors, Accidents, Infections

   The Leapfrog Group this week released its spring 2018 Hospital Safety Grades, which found...

Issue 17, April 24, 2018

• Study Questions Effectiveness of Performance Measures

   The study’s researchers recommend that organizations should stop using performance...

• Seeking comment on suicide prevention book

  We're trying to get a potential Suicide Prevention in Hospitals book approved and need your help...

• Patient Safety Strategies: Building a Fall Prevention Toolkit

  During this three-hour virtual workshop, Carole Eldridge, DNP, RN, CNE, NEA-BC, and Virginia Hall...

Issue 16, April 17, 2018

• Joint Commission Urges Hospitals to Protect Workers from Abuse

  The Joint Commission is the latest healthcare heavy-hitter to call for better protection of...

Issue 15, April 10, 2018

• HFAP to keep name going forward

  HFAP will be keeping its name. The accreditor had originally planned to take the name of the...

Issue 14, April 3, 2018

• Study: Link between infection control and antibiotic stewardship

   Healthcare facilities must ensure that infection prevention and control (IPC) and antibiotic...

Issue 13, March 27, 2018

• The Joint Commission: Comments open on proposed suicide risk NPSG through May 7

  Wishing you could weigh in on The Joint Commission’s expectations about suicide risk? You...

Issue 12, March 20, 2018

• Lawmakers want more AO oversight

  In a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, the committee is asking for what could be reams of...

Issue 11, March 13, 2018

• 3 Ways to Knock C. diff Rates Down to Zero

  For Necia Kimber, RN, CIC, MHA, infection control practitioner at Stillwater (Oklahoma) Medical...

Issue 10, March 6, 2018

• Joint Commission releases 2017 sentinel event stats

  Unintended retention of a foreign body, patient falls, and wrong-site surgery top The Joint...

Issue 9, February 27, 2018

• Report: Six opportunities to improve patient safety

  Over the next four years, $383.7 billion will be spent on adverse patient safety events in the...

• Webinar: How Vanderbilt University Medical Center Established a Hand Hygiene Program

  Presented on: March 22, 2018, 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST Presented by: Thomas R. Talbot, MD, MPH Level of...

Issue 8, February 20, 2018

• Involving patients and representatives in care decisions

  Involving patients in their care isn’t just polite, it’s a CMS requirement.

Issue 7, February 13, 2018

• Like CMS, you should pay attention to sexual harassment

  With all the recent focus on sexual harassment in the workplace, healthcare organizations...

Issue 6, February 6, 2018

• Joint Commission updates LS, EC chapters

  Three revisions to The Joint Commission’s Life Safety and Environment of Care chapters will...

• Webinar: Occurrence Reporting: How to Report, Identify, and Resolve Problems

  Presented on: February 27, 2018, 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST Speaker: Kenneth R. Rohde Program Level...

Issue 5, January 30, 2018

• CMS Inpatient-Only List: Preparing for Critical Changes in 2018

  Each year CMS revises its inpatient-only list of approximately 1,700 procedures. The most notable...

Issue 4, January 23, 2018

• Surgeon sued for double booking surgery

  There’s a reason why the American College of Surgeons (ACS) recommends asking patients if...

Issue 3, January 16, 2018

• Joint Commission to roll out new maternal care and infectious disease requirements

  The accreditor made the announcement in the latest R3 Report, with the aim of protecting both the...

• High Reliability and Safety in Healthcare Workshop

  Gain the tools and guidance to create a culture of high reliability and safety within your...

Issue 2, January 9, 2018

• Prepping for winter storms

  With the biting cold and heavy snow that struck the East Coast this month, and with more on the way...

• The CMS Conditions of Participation and Interpretive, 2018 Edition

  Compliance with the Conditions of Participation (CoP) is required to meet Medicare and Medicaid...

Issue 1, January 2, 2018

• CMS: Providers can text, just not medical orders

  CMS is clearing up recent confusion on what medical providers can text each other. The agency...