Holiday decorations, Antibiotic stewardship updates, TJC eliminates LPs

Careful with those holiday decorations. They can bring joy, but too much joy can also bring a citation from CMS, accrediting organizations or the fire marshal’s office.

Robert Campbell, PharmD, BCSCP, director of Medication Management and of TJC’s Standards Interpretation Group, gave a presentation about the antibiotic stewardship standards at TJC’s annual Executive Briefing in September.

The focus on profits in U.S. healthcare is “damaging,” Institute for Healthcare Improvement President Emeritus and Senior Fellow Donald Berwick, MD, said during last week’s IHI Forum in Orlando, Florida.

The Joint Commission (TJC) will no longer use the term “licensed independent practitioner” in its hospital and critical access hospital standards. Starting February 19, 2023, the term “licensed practitioner” will be used.

Concerns relating to violence in the healthcare workplace has been with us a long time (was there ever a time when it wasn’t somewhere in the mix? I tend to think not).

At HCPro, our goal is to provide you with the most up-to-date information on changes that affect your organization. After reviewing our product line, we have decided to discontinue Healthcare Life Safety Compliance (HLSC) and provide you with a more robust and user-friendly experience. Starting in January, we are upgrading your experience to the Accreditation & Quality Compliance Center ’s basic access level while we stop producing weekly content for HLSC.

“Because we are still on the 2012 edition [of the Life Safety Code® (LSC)], there isn’t anything new,” Wytosick says. “I think the biggest focus is maintaining older systems combined with construction projects updating departments.”

All signs point to a turbulent 2022–2023 winter season, according to an AccuWeather projection. While winter comes every year, the impact of climate change, volcanic eruptions, and other factors mean facilities can’t be complacent.

Can you tell what’s wrong in this photograph? If so, you are not alone.

Acute care hospitals in rural areas with 50 beds or less or facilities that qualify as critical access hospitals might want to consider converting to CMS’ newly outlined Rural Emergency Hospital provider type. There are advantages, say legal and healthcare experts, but not all hospitals may want to go through the process.

A lack of prescription adherence has cost the U.S. more than $524 billion a year due to morbidity and mortality, according to the PAN Foundation. Organizations must look for ways to remove barriers to adherence to ensure patients can access the prescriptions they need, including through the utilization of technology platforms.