Falls Mitigation & the New F323 Guidelines Program Scheduled May 28th

VHCA (4/25/2008)

Last August, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided surveyor guidance for surveying Accidents and Supervision (Tag F323) requirements in long-term care facilities.  The guidance addressed interpretive guidelines, the investigative protocol, and determination of compliance by clarifying resident supervision, hazard identification, resident risk, falls, unsafe wandering/elopement, environmental assessment of hazards, and resident-to-resident altercations.  Based on a review of 195 VHCA member deficiency reports for surveys conducted in 2007, tags related to “Accidents and Supervision” were among the top 10 deficiencies in Virginia 68 times.  One-third of those deficiencies were cited at a level “G” or Immediate Jeopardy for falls not prevented, alarms/devices not applied, no intervention and elopement.  Come spend the day with nurse consultant Diana Waugh whose out of the box approach to falls will help your staff prevent citations and negative outcomes.  The program is scheduled for May 28th at the Holiday Inn – Select in Richmond.  Look in your mail for the brochure or to register online go to the VHCA website.