Environment of Care (EC) (Behavioral Health / Behavioral Health Care)
Medical Equipment - Inventory/High Risk Equipment/Maintenance Strategies
Publish | January 01, 0001
What equipment is required to be included in a medical equipment inventory and how is high-risk equipment and maintenance strategies determined?
If using The Joint Commission accreditation process for CMS deemed status purposes, all medical equipment is required to be on the medical equipment inventory. A risk assessment must first determine whether the medical equipment serves a life support function and whether non-life support equipment is considered to be "high risk". In the context of new standard EC.02.04.01, the term “high-risk” means those items for which there is a risk of serious injury or even death to a patient or staff member should they fail. Although the term “high-risk” includes all life support equipment, it applies more broadly to encompass other items that are technically not necessary to support life but that would put the patient or staff member at risk if they fail, such as surgical robotics in the operating room. Note: the term "high-risk equipment" is equivalent in scope and nature to the CMS term “critical equipment”. In accordance with standard EC.02.04.01, to determine activities and frequencies of maintenance, organizations must comply with manufacturers’ recommendations or with strategies of an alternative equipment maintenance (AEM) program, as long as the AEM does not reduce safety and is based on accepted standards of practice. An AEM strategy may include reduced or altered maintenance tasks, relaxed frequencies of maintenance, run-to-fail strategies, etc. Assessments for AEM strategies must be documented in accordance with EC.02.04.01. Trade organizations such as ASHE, AAMI, AORN, etc. may provide further information with regard to establishing alternative equipment maintenance strategies. For medical equipment, accepted standards may be found in the American National Standards Institute/Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation handbook ANSI/AAMI EQ56: 2013, Recommended Practice for a Medical Equipment Management Program. High-risk medical equipment is required to be maintained at 100% of schedule. [EC.02.04.01]
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