5 8 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E M A R C H 2 0 1 7
What happens to a facility that fails to comply with
the 2012 editions of the National Fire Protection
Association's (NFPA) Health Care Facilities Code and
Life Safety Code? "The first center to get cited will
cut their teeth for the rest of the industry," says
Michael A. Crowley, PE, FSFPE, SASHE, vice presi-
dent of health care for Jensen Hughes, a
fire protec-
tion and life safety engineering consulting firm in
Baltimore, Md.
Here's how to ensure your center
isn't the example CMS surveyors are seeking.
• Assess risks. The newly adopted codes are
meant to catch up with the trend of advanced surgi-
cal procedures migrating from acute care hospitals
to outpatient settings, says Mr. Crowley. He adds that CMS wants facilities to
make the safety of patients and staff their No. 1 priority as they take on new
building projects.
To that end, CMS is requiring facilities to conduct risk assessments of con-
struction projects to ensure systems and equipment are in place to protect
patients and staff in the event of a fire, power outage or other unexpected
event. The risk assessments apply to new and existing facilities, according to
Mr. Crowley, who shares these scenarios involving 2 different facilities: One
has a medical gas system that does not have the necessary redundancies in
place to protect the patient from major injury or death (Category 1) in the event
of a power disruption; and one has an OR, which is considered a wet procedure
location, that is not protected with either isolated power or ground-fault circuit
interrupters. "Unless a risk assessment conducted by a healthcare governing
COMPLIANCE CRACKDOWN
Make Sure Your Facility Is Up to Code
• ALL SYSTEMS GO CMS now requires facili-
ties to assess the risks associated with med-
ical gases and other equipment.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
