Much like a Sonny and Cher hit song from the 70’s “the beat goes on” of yet another most recent CMS (Centers for Medicine and Medicaid Services) memorandum dated August 8th and is again reverberating the healthcare circuit. Let me first though share a bit of a snap shot history lesson as to Sonny and Cher since many of you blog readers were not even born in the 1970’s. Sonny Bono and Cher (Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere) were a musical and entertainment duo (husband and wife) that had a weekly variety show and several “hit” songs. The couple split after their duo “fame” faded with the times. Sonny Bono entered into the arena of politics and was elected Mayor of Palm Springs and later became a U.S Congress man (House of Representatives) until his tragic death in a skiing accident. Cher stayed in the entertainment industry and her elevation to stardom in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s as female singer and actress still today is very faithfully followed by her fans.
The krux of the CMS memo is not another curve ball or change up but rather a fast ball strike reaffirming the position around a healthcare organization’s medical equipment preventive maintenance program choice in either following the manufactures recommended procedures and frequencies or a more risk based approach through an Alternative Equipment Maintenance (AEM) strategy developed and managed by the organizations HTM department. This particular reaffirming memorandum is addressed towards critical access hospitals (CAH) which are by definition healthcare sites with no more than twenty-five (25) in-patient beds, providing 24/7 emergency level care and generally located in rural areas being approximately 35 miles away from any other hospital or critical access facility. These hospitals focus on general care and outpatient services to a community that is generally lightly populated covering a wide swath of geography.
The importance of this memorandum has language in it speaking to the effect of translation regarding documenting whichever medical equipment preventative maintenance strategy a CAH organization chooses to employ. If you are an HTM service professional providing medical equipment service program resource to a CAH go to the CMS website and download a copy of the August 8th memorandum “S&C: 14-41-CAH”. Read all fifteen pages and assure your organizations medical equipment preventive maintenance strategy is in compliance – the standard and expectation has been formally delivered to your door step.
