At Nash Healthcare Consulting (NHC), our mission is to support health organizations with the tools and resources needed to provide high-quality care. NHC prepares domestic and international healthcare facilities for the rigorous and comprehensive survey required by the Joint Commission and CMS Regulatory Compliance processes in Critical Access Hospitals and Hospitals, Behavioral Health, Long Term Care, and the Ambulatory setting. The NHC Environment of Care (EOC) and Life Safety team is highly experienced, credentialed, and prepared to deliver decades of survey, administrative, and clinical experience. Our senior consultants are former surveyors from the Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

We meet the unique needs of each hospital’s EOC and Life Safety requirements through three primary tasks and goals. The first is physical document review wherein each consultant evaluates all life safety and environment of care documents in the hospital or facility. Second, an Emergency Management tracer is conducted with the utmost professionalism and expertise because it is crucial for ensuring the safety and preparedness of the facilities. Third, and the final evaluation we most commonly complete and assess is a full physical building tour where all areas of the facility are meticulously inspected to identify and address below standard findings. Fire alarms, sprinkler system, extinguishment, emergency power systems, fire drill standards are evaluated and reviewed against The Joint Commission Survey Activity Guide as well as other authoritative guidelines including the Alternative Equipment Maintenance Guides.

Life Safety evaluations and surveys are critical because requisite standards from Life Safety Drawings are often missing across key departments in facilities and hospitals alike. NHC’s consultants are keen on identifying critical gaps and missing information including those in suite separations and square footage requirements evaluated during physical environment building tours. NHC utilizes this information and all findings to assess the appropriateness of storage practices in areas such as the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Units, and Operating Rooms.

NHC’s consultants are experts on the TJC Utilities Management section of the EOC chapter.  Our team assess each facility’s air flows, pressure relationships, temperature, and humidity as they are the frequently cited areas. NHC consultants further review policies and documents including logs and records to verify compliance and trends in deficiencies. If deficiencies are identified, we look for documentation of mitigation strategies that were implemented to prevent patient harm. Our teams frequently identify locations, especially with sterile storage, sterile processing, decontamination, and the operating room environment lacking temperature and humidity monitoring and positive pressure environments.