FGI updates interpretations for health care nurseries and assisted-living facilities
The Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) has published interpretations in three of its Guidelines.
The 2010 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities and the 2014 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals and Outpatient Facilities were updated to clarify the location of nurseries.
The FGI also published an interpretation in the 2014 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Residential Health, Care, and Support Facilities to clarify requirements for showers in assisted-living facilities.
Formal interpretations can be downloaded from FGI’s website. The organization is currently finalizing its 2018 Guidelines.
Health care-associated conditions fall 21 percent over five years
Health-care associated conditions declined by 21 percent (3.1 million) between 2010 and 2015, saving an estimated 125,000 lives and $28 billion in health care costs, according to results reported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Hospital falls have declined 15 percent while ventilator-associated pneumonia has decreased 24 percent. Read the full report for more patient-safety measurements.
Joint Commission announces 2017 National Patient Safety Goals
The Joint Commission’s 2017 National Patient Safety Goals lays out distinct goals for ambulatory, behavioral health, critical access, home care and hospital facilities. Some of the goals touch on facility-related matters, such as using proven guidelines to prevent infection, improving alarm management and preventing patient falls.
AAMI guide details benefit-risk assessment for medical devices
A new special report from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) lays out a framework for how the medical device industry and the Food and Drug Administration could embrace a new — and shared — way of thinking when it comes to post-market, benefit-risk assessments of medical devices.
AAMI says the goal of the document is to make for a clearer and more efficient way of reaching corrective and removal decisions when a problem emerges with a device that is already being sold and used.
Joint Commission announces Medicare-deemed ASC surveyor changes for 2017
Effective Jan. 1, approximately two-thirds of ambulatory surgical centers electing to use the Medicare-deemed option may see changes to their Joint Commission survey process, such as the length of the survey and/or the number of surveyors. The Joint Commission is making these adjustments to align with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS') new requirements. For instance, the new process will allow the time to cover both Joint Commission and CMS requirements; review patient tracers, medical records and credentialing files; and complete CMS-required worksheets.
