ICCS has published a new special report that identifies infection prevention requirement and standard violations in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) as witnessed during recent ASC visits by Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, President of ICCS.
The type of ASC infection prevention violations are broken down into three areas of
Read the ICCS special report on ASC infection violations.
ICCS has published a new special report that discusses survey citations by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) pertaining to infection prevention.
The report is titled "Top 5 Infection Prevention-Related CMS Survey Citations."
Topics covered include:
Access the ICCS special report on CMS infection citations.
Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, president of Infection Control Consulting Services (ICCS), will present a pre-meeting workshop for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) at ASCA 2016.
Phenelle's workshop is on "The Role of Infection Prevention and Control in an ASC QAPI Program." It will be held on Thursday, May 19, from 1:00-4:30 p.m.
ASCA 2016, the annual meeting of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA), is taking place May 19-22, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Dallas, Texas.
The description of Phenelle's pre-meeting session is as follows:
Recent changes adopted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the ASC accrediting bodies now require ASCs to integrate their infection prevention and control programs into their Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) programs while maintaining a separate set of indicators.
Discuss the recent and emerging federal requirements and the role that infection prevention and control plays in QAPI. Get an in-depth review of this entire operational area, including risk assessment, quality indicators and measures, surgical site infection surveillance, data collection and processing, influenza vaccination, the emerging antimicrobial stewardship program and the CMS surveyor worksheet changes.
For more information on ASCA 2016, click here. Additional registration is required to attend Phenelle's session.
To arrange a meeting with Phenelle at ASCA 2016 or to learn more about ICCS services for ASCs, which include survey preparation, development of infection prevention risk assessment, preparation of and assistance with corrective plans of action and infection preventionist onboarding, contact us today.
Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, founder and president of Infection Control Consulting Services (ICCS), recently presented a webinar for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) on "The Updated Infection Control Surveyor Worksheet for ASCs—What You Need to Know" for the ASC Association (ASCA).
The Ambulatory Surgical Center Infection Control Surveyor Worksheet (ICSW) is used by federal and state surveyors to determine infection control Conditions for Coverage (CfC) compliance. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its first update to ICSW since 2013 in June 2015. Note: To access an ICCS special report about the revised ICSW, click here.
Part of Phenelle's presentation for ASCA focused on the importance — and often the need as per the regulations and standards of CMS and accreditation agencies — for ASCs to complete an infection control risk assessment. Phenelle also discussed the tie in between an infection prevention and control goals and objectives plan and the risk assessment.
Following the webinar, Phenelle was contacted by a number of participants requesting resources that would assist with their efforts to meet infection prevention and control requirements and implement best practices.
Phenelle shared the following two documents which she uses as a template when developing facility-specific infection prevention plans and is making them available to the entire ASC community:
She encourages ASCs to download these tools by clicking on their names above and adapt them for use in their facility. Each facility has different needs and, therefore, these forms should serve as a guide. Anyone with questions about the tools or the infection prevention and infection control services ICCS provides to surgery centers across the country can contact ICCS by clicking here.
ICCS President Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, will present a webinar for the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) on the updated ambulatory surgery center infection control surveyor worksheet (ICSW) on February 23 at 1:00 pm ET.
The price of the webinar is $150. Members of ASCA save $50.
Here is the program's description:
"Segal will examine the edits to the surveyors' worksheet that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released in late June 2015. Significant changes were introduced to respond to growing concern about a lack of clarity in the worksheet and produce a more practical guide that is more closely aligned with updated guidance and changes in practice. Segal will analyze the ways that the changes might affect your ASC and provide the latest information on key areas that surveyors are citing most frequently. She also will identify ways to implement an effective and compliant infection prevention plan in your ASC."
The ASC ICSW is used by federal and state surveyors to determine infection control Conditions for Coverage compliance. This worksheet has been used since 2009, and was last revised in 2012. ICCS published a special report on the updated infection control surveyor worksheet.
To learn more and register for the webinar, visit the ASCA website by clicking here.