The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is scaling back its oversight of needle safety issues in ambulatory care and surgical settings (ASCs), though noting that some 3,200 inspections done in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 “have found that…
Tag Archives: inspections
GAO says CMS needle safety inspections must continue
August 8, 2012 – 7:56 am
Citing the risk of continuing hepatitis outbreaks, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) resume inspections of injection safety in ambulatory care centers. Formed in the wake of recurrent outbreaks due…
APIC Conference: IPs at the CMS ‘pressure point’
June 20, 2012 – 6:55 am
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ambitious plan to survey the nation’s hospital infection programs is drawing fire for both going beyond its regulatory authority in some areas and not requiring more infection prevention staff and support employees in others….
An inspector calls: CMS moves closer to unannounced hospital infection control surveys
May 16, 2012 – 8:46 am
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continues to hone an infection control survey slated for use in the nation’s hospitals by the end of the year, using expert feedback and “pre-testing” results to create a 42-page tool that…
IPs should prepare for CMS inspections in 2012
November 22, 2011 – 9:18 am
An unannounced inspector from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) walks into the hospital and summons the infection preventionist. Looking down at a clipboard, he asks: “What were the last two hospital acquired infections that were serious…
Ambulatory care: It’s as bad as we thought
November 1, 2011 – 2:51 pm
A staggering succession of hepatitis outbreaks has steeled the general perception that infection prevention programs in ambulatory care settings leave a lot to be desired. Inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirm these fears, even as the…
`It’s OSHA, can we come in?’ Outpatient care targeted
June 14, 2011 – 11:55 am
Outpatient centers have historically attracted little attention from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, although needle market data shows they have lagged in sharps safety and been a recurrent source of hepatitis outbreaks among patients. The hands-off approach is ending in…