The November 2017 issue of Network 16 News focuses on the new CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule for dialysis facilities. The Rule requires two exercises per year, one of which must be full-scale. The other can be what they’re calling a “table-top” exercise, or a disaster-response simulation. The bulk of the News issue describes a sample table-top exercise. The Question Corner deals with what State Surveyors will look for when assessing facility compliance with the Rule.
Another article advises that you need to know your facility’s “CCN” or CMS Certification Number. This 6-digit number uniquely identifies your facility, and avoids the confusion of multiple or ambiguous facility names. For instance, in CROWNWeb there are facilities that have entered their facility name as “Fresenius Medical Care” and “Pacific Northwest Renal.” If a facility reported a name like this during a disaster, rather than their CCN, the Network would have to call fifty facilities to find the one with the emergency.
November’s News also flags the March 8-9, 2018 NWRD Annual Conference in Spokane and the April 11-14, 2018 NKF Spring Clinical Meetings in Texas in the “Hot Dates” section. See our Facility Calendar at https://nwrnbulletins.wordpress.com/staff-education-calendar/ for more information on these and other dates.
Current and historical Network 16 News issues are online at https://nwrn.org/providers-and-professional-staff/nw16n.html .
