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CMS Emergency Prep rule is now enforceable by surveyors

Hospital Safety Insider, November 16, 2017

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It’s finally here.

CMS’ new Emergency Preparedness rule goes into effect on Wednesday, November 15, which means surveyors can now cite facilities who aren’t compliant with the rule’s requirements.

The rule closes gaps in CMS’ previous regulations, such as requiring facilities to have contingency planning in place, emergency response training for staff, and communicate and coordinate their emergency plans with other hospitals and government agencies at the tribal, local, regional, state, and federal levels. Facilities have had over two years to prepare for this rule, and the agency has already said it won’t be accepting excuses for noncompliance.

While the rule itself is new, Steve MacArthur, a safety consultant at The Greeley Company in Danvers, Massachusetts, says that a lot of the new requirements are things that hospitals should have already been doing.

“I suppose I should stop and say that while this rule is new to the ‘marketplace,’ there are really no new concepts contained therein,” he says. “This may provide some guidance for CMS surveyors as they drill down on organizational preparedness activities. But none of this is groundbreaking or in any way representative of a change in how hospitals have done, and will continue to do, business. [It’s] just another set of official ‘eyes’ looking through the compliance microscope.”

Resources

• CMS’ Final Rule

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