Advocacy Issues
WHY ADVOCACY?
ASHE Advocacy professionals routinely monitor the many codes and standards that regulate healthcare facilities to address conflicts where they may occur and provide a strong clear voice when advocating for rules that assure efficient operation of health care facilities. We rely on ASHE to represent us with the regulatory and legislative bodies that set the rules. They depend on HESNI and members of other affiliate chapters to get involved in the process. HESNI participates in ASHE’s Advocacy Highway by helping direct and maintain the flow of useful information and feedback from the field back to ASHE. Find out how you can be involved as an Advocacy Liaison.
(POSTED 8/29/24)
ACTION ALERT
Concealed Sprinkler Data Collection Project
The American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) is actively gathering data on concealed fire sprinklers to enhance safety protocols. Concealed sprinklers, defined in NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, and referenced in NFPA 25, Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems, are designed with a cover plate to aesthetically blend into the ceiling, making them less obtrusive. However, this design necessitates periodic inspection to ensure functionality and prevent premature activation. In 2022, the NFPA 25 committee proposed a five-year inspection interval to align with other maintenance activities requiring similar equipment, optimizing resource utilization.
This initiative underscores the commitment to continuous improvement in safety measures, acknowledging the balance between thorough inspection processes and practical considerations of cost and effort for facility owners and inspectors. The technical committee's decision, despite some opposition, indicates a consensus on the importance of these inspections while also recognizing the need for a pragmatic approach to their implementation.
ASHE requests your data so that we can help the committee develop a practical method for ensuring concealed fire sprinklers remain functional. Please download the Excel document linked below, follow the steps on the Instructions tab and record your data in the Form tab. Once you have completed your inspection and recorded relevant data, please upload your form to this Data Portal.
If you have any questions about the project, please contact Chad Beebe.
(POSTED 10/10/23)
ACTION ALERT
ASHRAE and ASHE seeking comments on new HVAC operations guideline
ASHRAE and the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) have issued a 45-day public review period from Oct. 6 to Nov. 20, 2023, on the new Guideline 43, Operations Guideline for Ventilation of Health Care Facilities.
The guideline, developed by ASHRAE in collaboration with ASHE, gives recommendations for the operation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that provide environmental control in health care facilities for the safety and comfort of facility occupants. Guideline 43 addresses health care HVAC systems as a comprehensive whole while also establishing a consistent standard for the maintenance and operation of these systems.
The scope of the new guideline is intended to apply to patient care areas, resident care areas and related support areas within health care facilities, and provides recommendations on acceptable temperature and humidity ranges, ventilation rates, operational parameters and preventive maintenance.
By introducing Guideline 43, ASHRAE and ASHE seek to render obsolete the long-standing practice of using HVAC design standards as operational practice standards and resolve discrepancies between what is allowable by design standards and what constitutes nominal HVAC performance. It encourages the optimization of HVAC systems and the resources they use through the application of a maintenance program in conjunction with the appropriate application of alternative equipment maintenance and reliability-centered maintenance practices.
Because this guideline will establish recommendations on operational parameters, tasks and rates, ASHE members are strongly encouraged to review and provide vital input to ensure that these recommendations are valid.
To review and make comments on the new guideline, access the ASHRAE Public Review webpage.
Read the full alert on ASHE's Website >>
The comment period closes Monday, Nov. 20!
(POSTED 09/11/23)
ACTION ALERT
FGI Seeking Comments on Proposed Changes to the Guidelines for Design and Construction
The Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) has issued a call for public comments on proposed updates to the 2026 edition of the FGI Guidelines.
- Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals
- Guidelines for Design and Construction of Outpatient Facilities
- Guidelines for Design and Construction of Residential Health, Care, and Support Facilities
If adopted at the state or local jurisdictional level, the Guidelines must be followed during new construction and renovation projects.
Read the full alert on ASHE's website »
The comment period closes Saturday, Sept. 30!
(POSTED 07/27/23)
CODES & STANDARDS
The Joint Commission eliminates additional 200 standards across all accreditation programs
Select Retired and Revised Accreditation Requirements
The Joint Commission recently announced it will eliminate and consolidate a second tranche of standards, following the first major reduction announced late last year. The more than 200 eliminated and consolidated standards, effective August 27, 2023, will streamline requirements and make them as efficient and impactful on patient safety and quality as possible.
The second phase of this project includes a focus on The Joint Commission’s other accreditation programs in addition to the Hospital Accreditation Program. The continued work on this initiative will further help health care organizations address the many challenges they face by eliminating requirements that do not add value to accreditation surveys so that organizations and surveyors can focus on strategies and structures that better support quality and safety. The second tranche of deleted and consolidated elements of performance (EPs) – the requirements that make up a standard – by program includes:
- Ambulatory Health Care: Of 206 in-scope EPs, 31 were deleted or consolidated into a similar EP (15% reduction)
- Behavioral Health Care: Of 81 in-scope EPs, 20 were deleted or consolidated (25% reduction)
- Critical Access Hospital: Of 150 in-scope EPs, 23 were deleted or consolidated (15% reduction)
- Laboratory: Of 230 in-scope EPs, 64 were deleted or consolidated (28% reduction)
- Nursing Care Center: Of 72 in-scope EPs, 19 were deleted or consolidated (26% reduction)
- Office-Based Surgery: Of 246 in-scope EPs, 22 were deleted or consolidated (9% reduction)
- Home Care: Of 159 in-scope EPs, 24 were deleted or consolidated (15% reduction)
- Hospital: 7 EPs were deleted or consolidated; 4 were revised
An EP was considered “in scope” for the review if it:
- Was not related to state or federal requirements,
- Had been in effect for at least three years, and
- Had been scored five times or less during full triennial surveys between 2017 and 2019 (the three years prior to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency).
“When we announced the first tranche of eliminated and revised standards in December 2022, hospital leadership and direct care providers alike were extremely supportive of the news that Joint Commission standards would be fewer but more meaningful,” said Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, MACP, FACMI, president and chief executive officer, The Joint Commission Enterprise. “After such positive feedback, we are pleased to extend additional relief to our accredited organizations outside the hospital setting – especially as this is where patients most frequently receive care.”
The standards reduction is the result of The Joint Commission’s comprehensive review that was announced in September 2022. The Joint Commission reviewed all its “above-and-beyond” requirements – those that go beyond state or federal requirements.
The full list of deleted and consolidated standards is available on The Joint Commission website.
(POSTED 04/07/20)
ACTION ALERT
ASHE Encourages Public Comments on NFPA 10 by May 6
The American Society of Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) urges hospitals to comment on the need to modify the inspection frequency for fire extinguishers.
Basically, the goal is to strongly encourage the NFPA to modify the inspection frequency for fire extinguishers. Attached is a walk–thru summary on how to submit a Public Comment with a discussion near the end of the document to provide guidance on a justification / substantiation for the change. This change could save the healthcare industry millions of dollars each year!
Please review the walk–thru and consider submitting a public comment. The deadline for comments is May 6, 2020. Thank you.
Click on the link below to view walk-through instructions for submitting comments on NFPA 10.
(POSTED 03/21/20)
ACTION ALERT
AHA Advocates for More Congressional Funding, Other Help
As hospitals and health systems continue efforts to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the AHA has been working hard to support our members.
(POSTED 03/01/20 FROM ASHE.ORG WEBSITE)
CODES & STANDARDS
Help shape the 2021 editions of NFPA 99 and 101
ASHE’s advocacy team details how to get involved in the development of two codes that will affect health care for years to come.
Jamie Morgan
Because of health care facilities management’s reactive nature, only a small group of individuals have taken a proactive stance on developing codes. As a result, new code requirements are continually placed on hospitals from outside entities, vendors, manufacturers and others.
To proactively change codes and drive them toward what is best for the health care field, hospitals and health care systems must encourage facilities management teams to review the second draft reports of the 2021 editions of NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities Code and NFPA 101, Life Safety Code ®. Anyone wishing to make an amending motion at the 2020 National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) Technical Meeting must declare his or her intentions by filing a Notice of Intent to Make a Motion (NITMAM) by Feb. 19. These NITMAMs will be the items voted on during the 2020 NFPA Technical Meeting.
One example of how a code requirement should be revised is the monthly requirement to visually inspect exit signs. Documented evidence from numerous hospitals across the nation indicates that monthly inspections of LED exit signs produce less than a 0.0004% failure rate and non-LED exit signs produce less than a 0.004% failure rate. On average, staff spent approximately 49 hours per year conducting exit sign inspections.
Furthermore, the individuals conducting these inspections were paid a median wage of $22 an hour; which translates to approximately $1,326.43 in staffing costs per year. The data shows around $7,380,000 annually is spent inspecting exit signs every year in the 5,564 U.S. hospitals. However, due to the impact on the exit sign industry, it would not be surprising if the elimination of monthly inspections on exit signs without battery-operated emergency illumination sources ends up as a vote at the 2021 NFPA Technical Session.
ASHE encourages all of its members who are NFPA members to please join ASHE at the 2020 NFPA Technical Session in Orlando, Fla., on June 18, 2020 and RSVP to let ASHE know you are attending.
JOIN ASHE AT THE 2020 NFPA TECHNICAL SESSION
Past Issues & Initiatives 
For more information about Advocacy issues affecting healthcare facilities, visit ASHE's ADVOCACY web page.
Photo: ASHE Deputy Director of Advocacy Chad Beebe updates members at a HESNI membership meeting.
