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View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
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View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
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View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
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View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreThis blog post is based on a recent Webinar with James Paturas, Director of the Yale New Haven Health System Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response (YNHHS-CEPDR).
Every organization participating in Medicare and Medicaid Programs should already have an Emergency Preparedness Plan in place and be awaiting a CMS site visit. CMS’s Final Emergency Preparedness Rule was published on September 16, 2016 and participating Medicare and Medicaid providers and suppliers had until November 15, 2017 to ensure that their plans were compliant with the new regulations.
Explaining the final rule, James Paturas breaks down the four required core elements that must be included in every organization’s plan and be reviewed and updated annually.
Risk Assessment and Planning
When developing an emergency plan, organizations must complete an evaluation of the potential risks they could face and create plans to address them. Paturas suggests completing either a vulnerability analysis or a traditional risk assessment that covers as many areas as possible. “The results of the assessments should be incorporated into the plans,” Paturas explains. “The regulators will want to see the results of the risk assessment and what you have done about it.”
The risk assessment results can help organizations identify essential components that can be integrated into the emergency plan, update existing plans, design new training programs, and enhance exercises. Paturas adds, “Assessments should focus on capabilities and capacities—these will be slightly different for each organization and need to be specific to either an emergency disaster or something that could affect the facility.”
Paturas adds that federal agencies are looking for partnerships to be clearly included in the plans. “So often writing plans is done in isolation. I believe what CMS and the Joint Commission are looking for is that organizations are working in collaboration with their partners.”
Policies and Procedures
“In healthcare organizations we live and die by our policies and procedures,” Paturas says. “The key here is that these must be very specific to the emergency preparedness initiatives.”
Paturas adds that new policies and procedures need to go hand-in-hand with the plans and should be based off of the risk assessments results. CMS requires that the policies and procedures address subsistence needs, evacuation plans, procedures for sheltering in place, and tracking patients and staff during an emergency.
Communication Plan
“Communication continues to be one of the biggest issues that impacts how well we respond to real events,” Paturas says. CMS requires organizations to develop a communication plan that complies with federal and state laws as a part of their emergency plan. It must include contact information for staff, other hospitals, volunteers, and state and local officials, primary and alternative means of communicating with staff and other agencies, and a method to share patient information.
When asked if an organization needs its own plan or if it can be part of an existing emergency operations plan, Paturas responds, “We are taking the approach that it can be embedded within an existing plan as long as you can highlight, if a regulator were to ask, where all of the required elements of communication exist.”
Paturas adds, “In terms of crisis communications, look at the critical issues going on—resource needs and allocation needs versus risk communications. Are there things you need to be telling staff, patients, visitors, or partners that could minimize or mitigate their risk?”
Training and Testing
Paturas observes that most organizations are concerned with how training, testing, and exercises are carried out. He adds, “Testing and conducting exercises is a critical part of training. Those organizations that have participated in or facilitated an exercise know that it is not an easy task. I strongly suggest reaching out to your hospital partners to see if there are exercises that are currently being planned at a local or state level that you could be a part of.”
CMS requires two testing exercises annually. Paturas explains that CMS will allow a tabletop exercise to be accepted as one required exercise, while the second needs to be a community-based, full-scale exercise. Paturas says, “Work with your local community to identify two or three overarching issues based on the risk assessment results. Select one to be completed as a tabletop exercise and another as a full-scale exercise. CMS has left this requirement fairly open, which gives participants some flexibility.”
Watch the complete Webinar to learn more about the CMS Final Emergency Preparedness Rule and what your organization needs to know.HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ResuscitationIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's provider credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions for healthcare organizations.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
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