Recently in Health Care Facilities Category

Improving Care in Nation's Ambulatory Surgical Centers

To reduce healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in stand-alone or same-day surgical centers, the HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius  announced the availability of up to $9 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to state survey agencies in 43 states.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections some patients acquire when they are in a health care setting such as a hospital or outpatient clinic.

"Because of the Recovery Act, millions of patients who go to stand-alone surgical centers will have greater assurance that they won't come home with a new infection," said Health and Human Services' Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  "Residents in these 43 states will continue to see the benefits from the Recovery Act not only by addressing health care associated infections, but by putting people to work to solve an important issue and improve the quality of life for Americans."

Healthcare Jobs in HAV Prevention

Healthcare-Associated Infections kill nearly 100,000 people and add an extra $30 billion in healthcare costs every year. 

"With a little bit of knowledge, and some extra effort, much of that can be prevented.  I'm glad to see these funds going to help put people to work combating this tragedy around the country," said Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI), the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who was a lead author of the Recovery Act and has been an outspoken advocate for efforts to reduce HAIs.

CMS-approved private accrediting organizations

Accredited facilities are surveyed by CMS-approved private accrediting organizations.  As part of the new initiative, surveyors in the 43 states will survey approximately 1,300 ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) across the nation, one-third of the more than 3,800 non-accredited ASCs across the country during the next 12 months. 

State surveyors will employ a new CMS survey process for ASCs that uses an infection control tool developed in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Healthcare Trends: Across the United States, health care services are being shifted to outpatient settings such as ambulatory care facilities, long term care facilities, and free-standing specialty care sites. 

The number of ASCs participating in Medicare grew from about 3600 in calendar year 2002 to 5200 in early 2009, a 44 percent increase. 

ASCs account for more than 43 percent of all same-day (ambulatory) surgery in the United States, amounting to about 15 million procedures every year. 

Typical surgical procedures conducted in ASCs include endoscopies and colonoscopies, orthopedic procedures, plastic/reconstructive surgeries, and eye, foot, and ear/nose/throat surgeries. 

HAI outbreaks in outpatient settings continue to occur according to the CDC.

Solution:  Employ basic infection control practices

In several ASC-related communicable disease outbreaks, failure to employ very basic infection control practices were implicated, leading CMS to identify this as an area for additional oversight.

In the last fiscal year, 12 states volunteered to get a head start on this nationwide effort to reduce healthcare-associated infections in stand-alone or same-day surgical centers by beginning to survey ASCs with funding of nearly $1 million provided through the Recovery Act.

Solution: create or expand state-based HAI prevention and surveillance efforts

In addition to the funds being made available for the inspection of ASCs, the CDC has also made $40 million available to state public health departments to create or expand state-based HAI prevention and surveillance efforts, and strengthen the public health workforce trained to prevent HAIs. 

These funds support activities outlined in HHS' 2009 Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections. The plan also establishes national goals, prioritizes recommended clinical practices, and coordinates a national research agenda. Development of this national plan, available at http://www.hhs.gov/ophs/initiatives/hai, is coordinated by HHS' Office of Public Health and Science, and involves participation from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, CDC, CMS, the Food and Drug Administration, the Indian Health Service, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and other HHS offices, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Green for health care is about more than "green building."  It's about green operations, green and sustainable community citizenship, and respect for the body's natural health and healing systems.

Green Guide for Health Care™, is the healthcare sector's first quantifiable sustainable design toolkit integrating enhanced environmental and health principles and practices into the planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance of their facilities.

This Guide provides the healthcare sector with a voluntary, self-certifying metric toolkit of best practices that designers, owners, and operators can use to guide and evaluate their progress towards high performance healing environments.

Health care facilities present both a challenge and opportunity in the development and implementation of sustainable design, construction and operations practices. Issues such as 24/7 operations, energy and water use intensity, chemical use, infection control requirements and formidable regulatory requirements can pose significant obstacles to the implementation of currently accepted sustainability protocols. Furthermore, it is appropriate that guidelines customized for the health care sector reflect the collective fundamental mission to protect and enhance individual and community health, and that those guidelines acknowledge the intrinsic relationship between the built environment and ecological health.

As health care institutions evolve a design language for high performance healing environments, they have the opportunity to highlight the associated health-based benefits. This in turn can inspire the broader adoption of health-based design principles in other building sectors.

Voluntary Educational Guide for Sustainable Design, Construction and Operations Practices

This online document is neither intended to establish regulatory requirements, nor to be viewed as a minimum standard for design, construction or operations. Rather it is designed to serve as a voluntary educational guide for early adopters of sustainable design, construction, and operations practices, to encourage continuous improvement in the health care sector, and to provide market signals to catalyze a richer palette of strategies for those who follow the early adopters.

As the general level of green building practice rises, it is anticipated that the Green Guide will be updated to encourage continued leadership and higher levels of rigor associated with creating high performance healing environments.

REFERENCE:  Green Guide for Health Care:  www.gghc.org