Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently updated a memo to its survey teams on reducing the risk of Legionella to specifically require facilities to have a water management plan that surveyors can review, according to an article on the Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare website.
A water management plan begins with the facilities management team and a solid risk assessment of the water distribution and storage systems, which must include a walk-through of the healthcare facility with the onsite plumbing expert.
That plan should be written and managed by a multidisciplinary committee, according to Bryan Connors, MS, CIH, HEM, the Healthcare Practice Director at Environmental Health & Engineering Inc., in Newton, Mass.
The CMS memo, which was first published last year and then updated this June, continues to point to the ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 188 “Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems” and best practices set out by a 2016 CDC toolkit on developing a water management program to reduce the growth and spread of Legionella in buildings as key resources, the article said.
Seeking Standards for Microbial Loads in Healthcare Facilities
UCR Health Unveils Plans for Major Expansion
High-Performance Windows Support Safety at UW Medicine's New Behavioral Health Center
Central Maine Healthcare Dealing with IT System Outage
Kaiser Permanente Opens Newly Expanded Everett Medical Center