Selecting the right compliance education program

Chad E. Beebe, AIA, FASHE, CHFM, deputy executive director of advocacy for the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE), says he is often asked by new health care facility managers what education would be right for them. Because ASHE has put together several courses that are well suited to getting someone new to health care up to speed, Beebe recommends taking the following courses in the order they’re listed below:

• Managing Life Safety: The 2012 Edition. The National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA 101^®, Life Safety Code^®, is the condition of participation for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This focuses on what facilities managers need to know about life safety for operations of a facility. Unlike other courses, it forgoes some of the details only needed for design and construction.
• Application of NFPA 99 in Health Care Facilities. NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities Code, addresses most of the environment of care standards for The Joint Commission. The focus of this program is on the day-to-day operation and maintenance of systems and equipment in health care facilities.
• Accreditation Management Program Development Workshop. This workshop will guide facilities managers through the process of creating or updating their survey manuals so they have everything organized in the most efficient manner for the survey process. If facility managers already have a set of accreditation binders, this will help them ensure that they are up to date.
• Physical Environment Survey Readiness Program. This course will help facilities managers ensure they are ready for survey. The course will focus on all of the hot issues surveyors will be looking for during the survey.

Beebe advises facilities managers to plan on taking these courses so that they have a few months in between each one. Additionally, he says, the survey readiness course should be taken immediately before a facility’s survey window.