HHS again tackles a proposed new rule a gainst ‘conscience and religious discrimina tion’

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will soon be soliciting comment on a proposed rule to strengthen protections “against conscience and religious discrimination.”

The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) earlier this month released its 2022 Quality Roadmap, an analysis of data from 2,016 accreditation surveys conducted in 2021-22. The accreditor encourages healthcare organizations to use the report to establish benchmarks and identify standards in areas of high compliance and high deficiency.

Sepsis is the cause of death for many influenza patients, O’Brien says. “Annually, there about 200,000 hospitalizations that are associated with influenza, and there are around 40,000 deaths. If you look within those deaths, there is a significant number of patients who end up dying of sepsis, either associated with the influenza or a bacterial infection.”

Some ponderings on the ups and downs of climate-related conditions that might impact a hospital near you.

At HCPro, our goal is to provide you with the most up-to-date information on changes that affect your organization. After reviewing our product line, we have decided to discontinue Healthcare Life Safety Compliance (HLSC) and provide you with a more robust and user-friendly experience. Starting in January, we are upgrading your experience to the Accreditation & Quality Compliance Center ’s basic access level while we stop producing weekly content for HLSC.

A new workplace can seem daunting on the first day of a job. Employers provide information by fire hose and expect new staff to simply absorb it all—which can be dangerous.

Train kitchen employees on how to use the exhaust hood fire suppression system, ensure the system is inspected regularly, and verify that Class K fire extinguishers have the appropriate signage to avoid common deficiencies.

Use this kitchen fire inspection report, provided by Brad Keyes, CHSP, founder of Keyes Life Safety Compliance, as a checklist. It is based on requirements found in NFPA 17A-2009.

Decorations around the hospital can bring joy to patients and staff. But they also can bring citations from CMS, accrediting organizations, or the fire marshal’s office. Ensure that the next holiday goes well by organizing decoration storage now.

CMS and The Joint Commission require physicians and other healthcare practitioners to communicate in a manner the patient can understand. Sometimes this involves removing a language barrier. And sometimes it’s simply about avoiding the use of medical jargon.