All U.S. states and territories are now subject to the CMS interim final rule requiring staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In a new memo to CMS state surveyors posted January 20, the agency added Texas as the final state subject to the rule after the last injunction was lifted from court challenges filed last year to the federal mandate.

The deadlines for having all staff vaccinated vary according to the version of the memo under which your state falls.

The Joint Commission has released a new Quick Safety advisory to address intimate partner violence (IPV), which has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to healthcare providers.

The new advisory, titled “Addressing intimate partner violence and helping protect patients,” provides Joint Commission requirements and national recommendations to identify and help patients who have experienced IPV.

The threat of cybersecurity attacks is still the top technological threat to healthcare organizations, according to the ECRI Institute. But a problem cause by the two-year-old pandemic isn’t that far behind.

The Pennsylvania-based non-profit, which analyzes the safety, quality and cost-effectiveness of care across the healthcare spectrum, says the threat of unauthorized online access or a data breach is as high as ever, due in large part to the sophistication of the attackers and the growing value of medical data.

Mac's Safety Space
I suspect that this is going to be a rather brief entry (but, if I’m honest, I usually think that and then…) as it is (yet another!) entry in the “the goal of the survey process is to generate as many findings as possible” series.

Newsletter: Inside Accreditation & Quality 

CMS is taking up the mantle along with The Joint Commission (TJC) to improve the safety of maternity patients who are at risk for pregnancy and postpartum complications.

Newsletter: Healthcare Safety Leader

In 2022, CMS plans to restart its pilot project to improve validation surveys but is likely to continue pressure on accrediting organizations (AO) to be more vigilant in finding deficiencies in physical environment (PE), infection control (IC), fire safety, and patients’ rights.

Newsletter: Patient Safety Monitor Journal

CRM has two main parts. The first deals with teamwork and communication and covers the interpersonal and social aspects of the working environment. The second deals with human factors and situational awareness and entails understanding physical and cognitive limitations while outlining strategies to manage elements in the operational environ- ment, such as fatigue, high task load, distractions, and automation. Although there are many topics that descend from these two broad categories, for me it is a straightforward way to organize the basics of CRM.

Newsletter: Healthcare Life Safety Compliance

No healthcare professional needs to be reminded of the risks and elevated threats of violence during tense moments with patients and their families, especially in a pandemic.

With continuing stress on patients and staff members from all corners as we head into the new year, a sound healthcare security team remains paramount, as do good policies and procedures.

Newsletter: Medical Environment Update

As the healthcare ecosystem in the U.S. grows more complex, there continues to be a focus on strengthening outcomes, controlling costs, and improving data. Improved quality of healthcare data helps overall quality of outcomes. Yet many patients lack a perspective or understanding of what is being done with their data—and how those practices impact quality of care and can even lead to errors or poor diagnoses.

What should patients want to know about what’s happening with their data?