The second-largest accreditation organization (AO) in the country will continue to do triennial hospital surveys as required by CMS, but will now conduct NIAHO® annual surveys only remotely.

Among other things, the changes include requiring a hospital to have a stewardship program as an organizational priority, that it allocates staffing, financial and technology resources to support the program, and that quality data is reported to hospital leadership.

The rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register August 13, with most elements will be effective October 1. CMS also published a 14-page fact sheet summary. In a press release highlighting the rule’s efforts to improve health equity and hospital readiness related to COVID-19 and future emergencies, CMS says it is trying to reduce disparities in maternal morbidity.

Delaware joins 23 other states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories in adopting full practice authority legislation, which streamlines healthcare delivery by granting patients full and direct access to the comprehensive services NPs are educated and clinically prepared to provide.

In a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, AHA asked that flexibilities such as the use of telehealth, hospital-at-home programs, and the easing of certain licensure requirements for out-of-state providers and nurse practitioners be continued.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently investigated The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to check whether the agency, which oversees patient safety at hundreds of U.S. hospitals, considers national security as part of its enterprise risk management (ERM) process.

DNV Healthcare-accredited hospitals, critical access hospitals, and psychiatric hospitals should be aware that the accreditation organization is returning to unannounced, onsite surveys as of September 7.

The goal, according to CMS, is to improve care coordination by ensuring that important medical information is shared with primary care providers (PCP) when a patient shows up at the emergency department or is admitted into the hospital, as well as sharing information with providers after a patient is discharged.

If your healthcare organization has taken advantage of federal 1135 blanket waivers during the national public health emergency (PHE), be sure to review those waivers as you prepare for survey to check if any were inconsistent with requirements under your state emergency or pandemic plan.

Be aware that as COVID-19 cases are declining and vaccination rates are climbing, the emergency waivers and measures approved by the federal government to get through the public health emergency (PHE) will be changing. The FDA sent a notice to hospitals and others April 9 encouraging healthcare organizations to start moving away from the emergency measures taken to preserve and reuse medical devices and other supplies early in the PHE.