In this issue: CMS: Increased oversight means even more pressure on AOs to ID problems Alert public relations teams: CMS making deficiency reports more accessible Guest column: Take new look...

Expect CMS to continue to put pressure on The Joint Commission and other accrediting organizations to find more of the serious fire safety and infection control issues the federal agency says they are...

We're working on books for 2019 and like to hear from you. Please take this short survey and let us know what safety topics or updates you'd like us to write about! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QTR...

Federal public health officials are urging everyone six months and older to get vaccinated against influenza in the wake of last winter’s severe flu season....

You can expect renewed interest in your water management program. This summer, CMS sent out a new memo updating its expectations on Legionella infections. The memo, QSO 17-30-Hospitals/CAHs/NHs, was p...

Despite there being a number of methods to correctly identify patients, wrong-patient procedures still occur with distressing frequency. Many if not all of these errors are preventable, yet they still...

In a new memo to its state survey agencies, CMS said it would use Joint Commission ligature recommendations—drawn from a task force that was convened by the commission and included several CMS s...

As infection prevention challenges evolve—such as emerging infectious organisms and resistance—healthcare organizations must focus on preventing hospital-acquired infections and ensuring b...

Dialysis is one of the three main topics that have come up repeatedly at Joint Commission presentations, along with sterile compounding and pain standards. And there’s been a corresponding uptic...

HFAP, one of the oldest accrediting organizations for U.S. hospitals, recently updated 13 of its standards to align with the expectations on ligature risk and other hazards that CMS outlined in a memo...