CMS issues update to equipment maintenance guideline

After urging from industry groups, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a memo in December 2013 updating its equipment maintenance guideline to require all hospital medical imaging and radiation therapy equipment to be maintained according to the manufacturer’s recommended standards, according to an article on the FacilityCare website.

The memo supersedes the December 2011, guideline in Appendix A, “Survey Protocol, Regulations and Interpretive Guidelines for Hospitals,” of the State Operations Manual related to hospital facility and medical equipment maintenance.

According to the latest CMS memo, “Hospitals comply with this regulation when they perform equipment maintenance in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations. In such cases, the hospital is expected to maintain documentation of the manufacturer’s recommendations as well as of the hospital’s maintenance activities.”

The memo also includes the following: “A hospital may adjust its maintenance, inspection, and testing frequency and activities for facility and medical equipment from what is recommended by the manufacturer, based on a risk-based assessment by qualified personnel, unless:

• Other Federal or state law; or hospital Conditions of Participation (CoPs) require adherence to manufacturer’s recommendations and/or set specific requirements. For example, all imaging/radiologic equipment must be maintained per manufacturer’s recommendations; or

• The equipment is a medical laser device; or

• New equipment without a sufficient amount of maintenance history has been acquired.”

• CMS further states that hospitals electing to adjust facility or medical equipment maintenance must develop policies and procedures and maintain documentation supporting their alternate equipment management program.

Read the article.