ASHE Region 1 Liaison Update

“Of all the months of the year there is not a month one half so welcome to the young, or so full of happy associations, as the last month of the year.” – Charles Dickens

 The year 2020 is drawing to a close, and although our “happy associations” were distant at best to keep ourselves safe, as innovators we continued to learn, adapt and share what we’ve learned every day. I am proud to be part of this association. I can affirm that ASHE business continues apace and is ready to energetically engage in a promising and successful 2021. Let me offer our NEHES membership the following updates.

ASHE Overview

• ASHE continued its overall success this year with its advocacy and educational initiatives
• More than 40,000 people have explored our COVID resources online this year.
• ASHE had more than 13,000 people take advantage of our online education programs and webinars this year.
• Our members numbers are holding strong, with more than 12,700 member finding value in an ASHE membership.

ASHE is continuing to work on updating the strategic plan. Watch for updates in the near future on this. You can help by participating in ongoing member survey which seeks your input from the field. The survey only takes 15 minutes, and all respondents are eligible to win one of 10 $100 Amazon gift cards. You can find the link on the ASHE website or in the email you received from ASHE.

57th ASHE Annual Conference & Technical Exhibition –

The 2020 ASHE Virtual Conference held on October 5-7 was a magnificent success. For those that like statistics:

• ASHE had over 2800 registrants
• 61% were first-time attendees to the conference
• Over 400 vendors participated
• The 86 vendor booths received over 21,700 visits in total
• The virtual conference space received nearly 217,000 visits

It not too late to take advantage of the education if you couldn’t attend. Go to the ASHE site and sign up to view the virtual presentations at an attractively discounted rate.

2021 PDC Summit is May 2-5 Tampa, FL – Mark your calendars!

• Note: this is a date change and stay tuned for some great virtual features for those that still may not be able to travel.
• Sign up for electronic updates on this event on the ASHE website

 ASHE Awards

 Please join me in congratulating Alan Owens, Senior, CHFM, Engineering Operations Manager from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, for achieving his SASHE during 2020.

 Congratulations to NEHES for winning the 2020 Energy to Care Chapter Challenge Award in the small chapter category for the second year in a row.

Congratulations to the following NEHES member institutions who received the 2020 Energy to Care award:

• University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, VT
• Adult Primary Care, South Burlington, VT
• Family Medicine & Rehabilitation Therapy, South Burlington, VT
• Family Medicine – Colchester, Colchester, VT

 Congratulations to Yale New Haven Hospital, St Raphael Campus, New Haven CT for winning the 2020 Vista Award for Infrastructure.

ASHE/ NEHES Advocacy Report

COVID-19

In addition to all the fantastic resources that ASHE has compiled and keeps updated on its website, results are now available online from ASHE's COVID Response Tactics Sharing (CRTS) survey, which details surge-related preparation and response strategies deployed by health care facilities across the U.S. This research included nearly 1,200 respondents representing 12 different roles from the health care engineering field. Thank you to those members that participated. This report, which is part of a continuing series, details early decisions made by health care facilities at the start of the pandemic, tracks activities related to maintaining routine clinical operations during active surges, and more. The CRTS project is designed to help the field and those supporting health facilities operations learn about trends and best practices to help respond to and prepare for similar crises in the future.

Do you have anything unusual/COVID-related happening or concern in your facility? ASHE wants to know and help. Please reach out to any ASHE staff member or post your question or comment on MyASHE.

Joint Commission Proposed Changes Related to Water Management for HAP, CAH

The Joint Commission is proposing a new water management program standard for the Hospital (HAP), Critical Access Hospital (CAH), and Nursing Care Center (NCC) accreditation programs and is requesting comments regarding the proposed changes. The proposed changes aim to strengthen TJC requirements regarding water management programs and focus on the implementation of a comprehensive water management program.

The proposed changes will eliminate EC.02.05.01 EP 14 regarding minimization of pathogenic biological agents in cooling towers, domestic hot and cold water systems and other aerosolizing water systems and introduces a new standard, EC.02.05.02, which will require hospitals, critical access hospitals and nursing care centers to have a water management program which includes an individual or team responsible for the program, basic diagrams of water systems, a water risk management plan, a plan for addressing stagnant water events and water monitoring protocols with control measures.

For more information and how to comment on the proposed changes see the Joint Commission announcement on www.jointcommission.org.

CMS Issues Guidance Related to Emergency Preparedness Drill Exemption

On September 28, 2020, CMS issued guidance related to emergency preparedness testing exercise requirements in the context of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). In the guidance, CMS clarifies that the published Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Regulatory Provisions To Promote Program Efficiency, Transparency, and Burden Reduction; Fire Safety Requirements for Certain Dialysis Facilities; Hospital and Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Changes To Promote Innovation, Flexibility, and Improvement in Patient Care Final Rule (84 FR 51732) modifies the exemption to allow providers to be exempt from their next required full-scale community-based exercise or individual, facility-based functional exercise following the onset of the actual event during which the provider activates their emergency plan.

The provider’s emergency preparedness testing scheduling and when the provider implemented their incident command center will impact what types of testing exercises will still be required. For example, if a hospital conducted a full-scale exercise test in January 2020 and then activated their incident command center in March 2020, they would still need to perform a tabletop or workshop exercise within 2020 but would be exempt from having to do a full-scale exercise in 2021. For additional details and other scenarios, see CMS S&C Letter QSO-2-41-ALL.

Facility Guidelines Institute 2022

The recent comment period on the draft 2022 Guidelines documents resulted in 578 comments across the three documents. A special thanks to those of you who took time to review the drafts and provide input on proposed changes. Submitted comments are now being reviewed and voted on by the Health Guidelines Revision Committee (HGRC). Approved comments will be incorporated into the 2022 Guidelines. HGRC activity will continue through April 2021.

Thank you

Finally, its been an honor serving you as ASHE liaison over the past 2 years, and I look forward to my continued involvement with NEHES. Congratulations again to Alison Brisson as she takes over this role in her new capacity of ASHE Region 1 Board Member in 2021.

Respectfully Submitted by:
Edward M. Browne, CHFM, CHC, FASHE