In the News This Month
Greetings Everyone,
With the healthcare industry continuing to experience challenges in many areas, our focus this month revolves around leadership and the significance their level of engagement has in creating and maintaining commitment and expectation for safety at all levels, from frontline providers to managers and executives.
Our feature article, "Leadership Accountability for Survey Readiness", by Chris Pratt, Senior Consultant, speaks to the accountability leadership faces when the organization fails to meet accreditation and/or regulatory requirements, and provides guidance leaders can follow for successful survey outcomes and of the utmost importance, ensuring patient safety.
Our second article, "Culture of Safety, Leadership Responsibility", authored by Senior Consultant, Denise Smith and Associate Consultant, Anne Kelly provides proven strategies in which leaders can build and sustain a culture of safety where patients receive great care and staff can thrive.
We hope you find these articles informative and helpful in assisting you with your ongoing regulatory readiness. Please feel free to reach out to us at info@courtemanche-assocs.com with any topics you would like to see featured or for any service needs you may have.
Leadership Accountability for Survey Readiness
About the Authors
Christopher Pratt, MS, BSN, HACP
Chris Pratt is a Senior Consultant with Courtemanche and Associates with more than 33 years in clinical and leadership experience working in varying healthcare positions from the bedside to the Boardroom. In this role, he is responsible for assessing healthcare organizations’ readiness for licensing, accreditation, and regulatory compliance. He is trained in the survey process, auditing approach and survey outcome determination utilized by The Joint Commission, DNV, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and other regulatory agencies and accrediting organizations. He assists organizations with post-survey activities, education, patient safety strategies, and quality improvement initiatives and has experience in various health care settings including acute care, behavioral health, and ambulatory care settings.
Culture of Safety, Leadership’s Responsibility
About the Authors
Joseph Esch, MBA CHFM
Joseph Esch is a Life safety surveyor and consultant. He is trained under the HFAP Acute Care and Critical Access Hospital requirements, as well as The Joint Commission accreditation requirements for the physical environment, fire safety, Life Safety Code®, and Emergency Management chapters. Joseph has 14 years in healthcare, his primary focus is the operations, plant and the physical environment. He has assisted in the planning and initial startup of facility programs in several acute care facilities, including the implementation of CMMS, compliance program, capital forecasting, and facility condition indexing and has been chairman of the EOC committee. He currently holds a Certified Healthcare Facility Manager certification issued by the American Hospital association in 2015 and is a member of the American Society of Healthcare Engineers and the local chapter of Chesapeake Area for Healthcare Engineers.
Patricia Cook, B.S., R.Ph, HACP, GRCP
Pat Cook is a Senior Consultant at Courtemanche & Associates. She has four decades of healthcare administrative and regulatory experience where she served in multiple leadership positions including Drug Distribution Supervisor, Assistant Director of Pharmacy and Director of Pharmaceutical Care. Her experience with regulatory compliance, licensure and accreditation spans over 30 years and involved survey coordination and survey readiness and response across hospital, long term care, ambulatory care, behavioral health, and home care practice settings. Prior to joining the C&A team, Pat’s most recent healthcare experience was serving as System Vice President of Accreditation and Licensure for RWJ Barnabas Health. where Additionally, she also holds the following certifications, Six Sigma Green Belt, Certified Healthcare Accreditation Professional (HACP), and is a Master Trainer in TeamSTEPPS.
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The Joint Commission® is a registered trademark of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Courtemanche & Associates has no affiliation with this entity.
