A new proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would ban several forms of discrimination and require comprehensive infection control and antibiotic stewardship plans in hospitals.
Under the proposal, hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) would have to develop facility-wide antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention programs. If finalized, the rule would require hospitals to conduct surveillance and prevention efforts, and determine appropriate antibiotic levels. The rule would also require providers to develop and implement policies forbidding discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability or sex/gender identity.
The proposed rule also clarifies and modifies several current requirements, including shortening the term “licensed independent practitioner” to “licensed practitioner,” making it easier for physician assistants to take on vital tasks for which they are qualified, according to a CMS fact sheet. Hospitals’ Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) programs would also be required to factor in readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions-related data. The proposal comes the month after an earlier rule from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights, which banned discrimination on the basis of gender identity, disability or language proficiency at hospitals receiving federal funds.
The rule further allows hospitals to implement policies specifying which outpatient departments are exempt from rules requiring registered nurses present. It further proposes several changes specific to CAHs, including doing away with CAHs’ disclosure of ownership requirement. It would also require CAHs to develop and implement QAPI programs.
- read the proposed rule in the Federal Register (.pdf)
- here's the fact sheet