CMS Proposes to Require Facilities to Install Sprinklers

       Nursing homes across America would, for the first time, have to install sprinkler systems throughout their buildings if they wish to continue to serve Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, under a new regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
       As an interim step toward today’s announcement, in March 2005 CMS began requiring all nursing homes that did not have sprinklers to install battery-operated smoke alarms in all patient rooms and public areas.
       The agency has also taken many actions to increase resident safety over the past several years, such as a 17-fold increase in the number of life safety code (LSC) inspections performed between 2004 and 2005. The agency will also publish the number of LSC violations as well as information on smoke alarms and sprinkler systems for every nursing home in the country on its “Nursing Home Compare” website by the end of this year.
       Under existing CMS regulations, newly constructed nursing homes and nursing homes undergoing major renovations, alterations, or modernizations must be equipped with sprinkler systems. Currently, older homes are not required to have such systems.
       CMS follows the fire safety guidelines developed by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), whose technical specifications sprinkler systems will have to meet as a result of the proposed rule.
       The proposed rule asks for public and industry input on an appropriate phase-in time to allow older homes to retrofit their facilities. The comment period will remain open until December 26, 2006.
       For more information on the proposed rule, visit www.cms.hhs.gov.
       Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Study Finds Insufficient Data on Pressure Ulcer Prevention

       As many as 1 in 4 residents of long-term care facilities and nearly as many hospital patients suffer from unsightly, often painful, and sometimes deadly pressure ulcers (or bedsores), at a cost to our healthcare system of billions of dollars a year. This high rate of suffering is not surprising, according to a study published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that points to a dearth of scientific data on how to best prevent pressure ulcers.
       S. Kwon Lee, MD, a Cleveland, Ohio-based surgeon, certified wound specialist, and expert on pressure ulcers, agrees with the article’s premise. It is that very lack of scientific rigor and the presence of many misconceptions in the medical community, he believes, that is largely responsible for the continuing suffering of those persons most at risk.
       “It’s a crime that in the 21st century many long-term and acute care facilities are still grasping at straws when it comes to the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers,” says Dr. Lee, who is also a member of the advisory council to the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP). “In particular, a lack of attention in science has been devoted to the study and documentation of nutrition in healing wounds.
       “Regardless of the kind of dressing or bed or device you use in treating pressure ulcers, if we don’t have people with the right nutritional state, they won’t get better,” adds Dr. Lee. “As means to this end, we need to do a better job of educating the healthcare professionals who work on the front line.”
       Source: Andover Communications

BG North America Announces Name Change

       BG North America, a recognized leader in therapeutic pressure redistribution support surfaces, announces the changing of its name to Encompass Therapeutic Support Systems, effective January 1, 2007.
       “Since being purchased by Encompass a few years ago, we attempted to blend the old with the new into our name,” says David Buchicchio, Vice President of Marketing and Operations. “But now is the time to make a change, as therapeutic support systems are what we are and what we do.”
       Since 1967, Encompass Therapeutic Support Systems has supplied the healthcare community with cost-effective answers to skin management challenges.
       For more information, call 800-822-8288.