Healthcare Safety & Regulatory Compliance

1. Phone: 207-407-3151
Cell: 781-820-3532
E-mail: rcharp@hsnellc.com
Web: www.hsnellc.com
36 Roberts Hill Rd.
Topsham, ME 04086
HealthSafe New England provides comprehensive
safety and risk management consultative services to
the healthcare industry. With over 30 years in
guiding Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery Centers,
Urgent, Primary Care and Independent Physician
Practices through Regulatory Compliance Audits
and/or Accreditation Surveys, we develop a
comprehensive program to address your
environmental and occupational exposures, risks,
and operational hazards to keep your staff, patients
and visitors safe.
Is your healthcare organization achieving its’ best
grades with Press Ganey, Leapfrog and HCAHPS
scores? What may be driving your scores is the
conditions that exist in the Environment of Care.
Your culture may also be playing a role if your entire
team is not focused on a “Safety First Approach to
Staff, Patients & Visitors”.
Conducting a review of your Safety Management
Program by an independent third party like HSNE
may improve your scores dramatically, empower your
line staff to accept ownership and drive results with
your Environment of Care efforts while improving
your organizational performance to improve
compliance measures & reduce operational risk.
HSNE
Expertise
H E A L T H C A R E S A F E T Y
E X C E L L E N C E
Are your hospital safety scores
indicative of how safe your
organization really is?
“Safety First in Everything We Do”
TEL: 207-407-3151
H E A L T H C A R E S A F E T Y
E X C E L L E N C E

2. Challenges
The challenges as discussed in many articles and
publications is the uncertain direction healthcare is
heading as hospital mergers, acquisitions, layoffs and
closures continue to accelerate. Most hospitals are
struggling financially, and combatting internal issues such
as Nursing/ Physician shortages, lower reimbursement
rates, and an expanding outpatient model that is
increasing their market share and competing for the same
bucket of revenue.
Most healthcare organizations that are struggling to adapt
to the changing landscape are still operating as they did
years ago, allowing deficiencies and hazards to go
unabated, measuring the same performance improvement
indicators and not holding staff accountable for
non-compliance with policies & procedures. Most are still
utilizing paper checklists to track and trend patient
satisfaction results, documenting hazards, exposures and
correcting days or weeks later through their work order
system or emails, and accepting sub-standard work from
their vendors.
The organization’s that are willing to adopt the Best
Available Control Technologies (BACT) to accelerate
their operation as a “Best Practice” model will survive and
thrive. To many insiders, this new landscape will require,
“out of the box “ thinking, innovative leadership, and the
willingness to “Challenge the Status Quo” .
The healthcare landscape is shifting dramatically from
a quantity to quality based model meaning safety and
quality of care is the highest priority with
organizations being fined for deficiencies, poor
clinical outcomes and sub-standard patient
atisfaction scores. Accrediting & Regulatory bodies
like The Joint Commission, CMS & OSHA are
scrutinizing healthcare like never before as
“consumers have skin in the game” by paying more
out of pocket for their healthcare needs, and are able
to select the safest facility available for services and
procedures.
CMS has fined a majority of hospitals over the past
couple of years due to high readmission rates and
healthcare acquired infections. The Joint
Commission has published several articles highlight-
ing the long standing issues with repeat deficiencies
regarding Environment of Care & Fire/Life Safety
Management challenges, and most recently published
it’s survey findings revealing deficiencies ranging in
the 40-60 % (percentile) for all facilities surveyed in
the past year. One disturbing TJC Trend - 59%
EC.02.06.01 The hospital establishes and maintains a
safe, functional environment.
The financial incentives are increasing by the day for
healthcare organizations to strive for excellence.
Environment of Care
Opportunities
For many healthcare organizations that have
embraced a “Best Practice” model, the common
denominators appear to be; those that embraced &
practiced a “Robust Safety Culture” that viewed staff
safety in the same manner as patient safety.
Committed in writing to a “Top Down-Bottom Up”
focus where the leading indicators for incidents were
constantly reviewed, measured, and protocols
adopted to drive down loss and reduce risk in a team
fashion by connecting the front line staff to the
exposures that they can immediately correct.
Holding staff accountable for adhering to sound
safety practice, policy and procedure is key. As the
old saying goes; “What Get’s Measured Get’s
Done”!
HSNE offers a comprehensive risk assessment of
your operation with a facility tour & document re-
view to ensure that your exposures are addressed to
maximize the safest environment possible for your
patients, staff and visitors.
Contact HSNE for a Comprehensive
Risk Assessment &
HealthSafe New England
Phone: 207-407-3151
Cell: 781-820-3532
E-mail: rcharp@hsnellc.com
H E A L T H C A R E S A F E T Y
E X C E L L E N C E
Are maintenance issues/practices
impacting your HAI rates?
O.R.’s are a Critical Risk