Medicare adopts 2000 Life Safety Code
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has adopted the fire safety regulations of the 2000 Life Safety Code, updated and published by the Quincy, MA-based National Fire Protection Association. The 2000 code could impose "significant new burdens" on new or renovated ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), according to the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (FASA) in Alexandria, VA.
However, the 2000 code is considered less onerous that those changes originally proposed by CMS, according to the San Diego-based American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC). Existing ASCs already in compliance with earlier versions of the code will not have to comply with the 2000 version unless they undergo substantial renovation and/or reconstruction, according to FASA. Case-by-case waivers also will be considered, the association says.
Most hospital outpatient departments already are in compliance with the 2000 code due to fire marshal requirements, according to the AHA.
Among other things, the final rule provides that an existing ASC will not be required to have a Type I Essential Electrical System (EES) or upgrade its medical gas capabilities, according to AAASC.
ASCs in compliance with earlier editions of the life safety code EES, and medical gas standards will not be required to upgrade to the 2000 edition, provided the ASC continues to meet the life safety code requirements applicable when it was constructed, the association says. However, an ASC will be required to meet the 2000 edition of the code if its EES or medical gas system is renovated, altered, or modernized, AAASC points out.
Additionally, the final rule does not change the requirements for vertical openings and fire-rated wall standards applicable to ASCs, the association says. ASCs will be required to upgrade emergency lighting consistent with requirements specified in Chapter 21.2.9.1 of the 2000 edition of the code, but they will have three years to make such changes, it says.
The regulations take effect March 11, and health care facilities must comply with most changes by Sept. 11. The rule appears in the Jan. 10 Federal Register. (Web: www.access.gpo.gov.) A program on the implications of the life safety code is included in the March 12-15 annual AAASC meeting. (Web: www.aaasc.org).
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has adopted the fire safety regulations of the 2000 Life Safety Code, updated and published by the Quincy, MA-based National Fire Protection Association.
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