DNV Healthcare President Patrick Horine is leaving the company in May and will be replaced by the director of operations, Kelly Proctor.

The infection control risk assessment (ICRA) for construction and renovation projects is updated to make it more user friendly and specific.

CMS approved The Joint Commission’s hospital accreditation program for another three years, through July 15, 2025.

A fairly brief missive this week primarily to alert you to a couple of newly available/accessible resources.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in its March 2022 cybersecurity newsletter reported that throughout 2020 and 2021, hackers have targeted the healthcare industry seeking unauthorized access to valuable electronic protected health information (ePHI). 

And it’s a growing problem. The number of breaches of unsecured ePHI affecting 500 or more individuals due to hacking or IT incidents increased 45% from 2019 to 2020. Further, the number of breaches due to hacking or IT incidents accounted for 66% of all breaches affecting 500 or more individuals reported to OCR in 2020.

A high reliability organization (HRO) is one that works with complex and hazardous systems every day and still retains a highly safe and error-free environment. The first recognized HROs were the United States Navy nuclear aircraft carriers, the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control systems, and nuclear power plant operations. These entities operate using complicated and dangerous processes, yet they have the fewest safety incidents. In the past several years, hospitals and healthcare systems have also striven to become HROs.

Too often, Black and Brown women in the United States are afraid of what will happen to them and their child before, during, and after birth, said a panel of women during a recent online roundtable hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Those fears are with good cause. According to the CDC, Black and Indigenous women die from pregnancy-related causes “at a rate 2-3 times higher and experience severe maternal morbidity at a rate nearly two times higher than their White, Asian Pacific Islander, and Hispanic counterparts.”

The focus on maternal healthcare is intensifying. CMS is exploring using new Conditions of Participation (CoP) and quality measures to push hospitals to improve maternal health outcomes, while The Joint Commission (TJC) is proposing a new advanced certification in perinatal care.

Hospital projects have slowed throughout the pandemic as construction supplies and worker shortages, along with infection control mandates, have hindered progress nationwide. As the pandemic begins to wane and projects pick up speed, Healthcare Safety Leader went to experts to ask about the chief concerns facilities managers should remember during construction planning and building.