OIG cites CMS for poor risk assessments. Also, should OSHA's new COVID-19 protections become permanent?

Guess who just got dinged after an audit for not doing a risk assessment right? CMS.

OSHA will take comments until August 20 on an emergency temporary standard to set COVID-19 worker protection requirements that the federal agency is considering making permanent.

Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, is the chief quality and clinical transformation officer at University Hospitals. The critical care physician has a global reputation as a patient safety champion, including life-saving work developing checklists to reduce central line–associated bloodstream infections. He is a prolific researcher, with more than 800 articles published in peer-reviewed journals.

Take another look at your workplace violence prevention (WVP) policies and procedures now that The Joint Commission (TJC) has formally published new and revised standards that will be effective January 1, 2022.

Not unexpectedly, the new WVP requirements require a workplace analysis, staff education and training, and a designated leader to oversee creation of policies, implementation of the program, analysis of reported incidents, and reports to the hospital governing body.

The new Leadership WVP element of performance (EP) under standard LD.03.01.01 also requires the designated leader to ensure that someone follows up with workplace violence victims and witnesses and provides them with support if necessary, including trauma and psychological counseling.

PTSD occurs after a person experiences or witnesses a highly stressful or upsetting event. Patients can also develop PTSD secondhand, from close contact with people who’ve also undergone the trauma. That’s particularly true for healthcare providers, who often find themselves working in the aftermath of terrible disasters and feel it’s their job to push aside their own issues for the patient, says Barbara C. Burt, Psy.D., program chair for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Phoenix.