TJC Clarifies Emergency Power Expectations

By David Stymiest, PE, CHFM, CHSP, FASHE

In the January 2014 editions of both TJC Perspectives and TJC EC News, TJC Director of Engineering George Mills listed numerous clarifications and expectations for emergency power systems.  Below are the design-related issues that he covered.

TJC Modifies Emergency Power Test Intervals for 2014

 By David Stymiest, PE, CHFM, CHSP, FASHE

The 2014 TJC Hospital Accreditation Standards include wording changes in Standard EC.02.05.07, EP-4 (generator test intervals) and EP-6 (transfer switch test intervals) that tweak the required test intervals a little.

The new 2014 test interval language in both EPs states “At least monthly, the hospital tests ….”  This is a change from the 2013 TJC wording in both EPs that stated “Twelve times a year, at intervals of not less than 20 days and not more than 40 days ….”

TJC Redefines “Quarterly” and “Every 3 Years” for 2014

 By David Stymiest, PE, CHFM, CHSP, FASHE

Take a close look at your 2014 schedules for quarterly requirements such as fire safety system testing found in several elements of performance (EPs) under Standard EC.02.03.05.  The brand new 2014 TJC definition of QUARTERLY can be found on page EC-3 at the beginning of the EC Chapter in the 2014 Hospital Accreditation Standards.  The previous definition allowed quarterly activities to be accomplished anytime during a calendar quarter.  The 2014 definition, however, is “every three months, plus or minus 10 days.”  We recommend that you interpret this new requirement conservatively as three months from the date of the previous activity, plus or minus 10 days.

Smart Money: Making the case for hospital infrastructure funding

By David Stymiest, PE, CHFM, CHSP, FASHE

This article recently appeared in Health Facilities Management.
 
Many health facilities managers would like to be more successful in obtaining depreciation dollars to fund maintenance and infrastructure capital renewal adequately. Gaining access to depreciation funding often involves being more successful at selling the maintenance mission and requires a multifaceted approach.

The rules of engagement include such disparate approaches as communicating with budget committees and chief financial officers (CFOs) while employing the terminology they use for other hospital initiatives, wise use of empirical information to communicate salient facts regarding the hospital infrastructure, making sure to shift the risk of non-funding to those who make funding decisions, and fitting budget requests into the strategic big picture.

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