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CMS now permits six-year damper tests in hospitals
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November 4, 2009
As we first reported Tuesday on our “HospitalSafety” Twitter account, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a memo allowing hospitals to use six-year frequencies for smoke and fire damper tests.
This move ends a conflicting provision between CMS and The Joint Commission, as the commission has allowed six-year damper testing for some time under its environment of care standards, while CMS had maintained four-year testing rules.
At the heart of the debate was whether CMS could issue waivers to hospitals to use the six-year testing, which ended up as a hurdle because CMS had no mechanism to issue a waiver until an inspector issued a citation for a violation.
“Under this categorical waiver, a hospital that conforms to the above requirements will not need to apply in advance for a waiver nor will it need to wait until being cited for a deficiency in order to apply for a waiver,” CMS says in the memo.
The six-year testing interval begins on the date of the last documented damper test, CMS says.
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