Hospital Peer Review turned to healthcare associates Timothy Fry (Chicago) and Hilary Blackwood (Charlotte) for insight on the steps hospitals and other Medicare providers must take to comply with new emergency preparedness guidelines by the November deadline. Both were quoted in an article published in the newsletter’s March edition. Subscribers can read the article here.
“To stay compliant, providers need to conduct a risk assessment, create and incorporate policies and procedures based on this risk assessment, develop a communication plan, and conduct training and testing to ensure the adequacy of the emergency preparedness program while maintaining documentation of the same for survey purposes,” said Fry, who noted that many hospitals are already complying with the new rule.
Blackwood said the requirement for community-based training could be the most challenging for many providers. “One of the two required trainings in most cases needs to be a full-scale exercise that is community-based,” she said. “Some facilities may need to coordinate across state lines.”
Fry and Blackwood provided an in-depth explanation of the new guidelines in a January client alert.