About Licensing & Accreditation
Hospital licensing and certification is complex. CHA offers resources to help hospitals meet robust licensing requirements, including the California Hospital Survey Manual, which explains both California and federal requirements and helps hospitals prepare for the survey process, explains how surveys are conducted, and offers tips for a successful survey.
CMS Finalizes Skilled-Nursing Facility Staffing Standards
What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule establishing new staffing standards for long-term care facilities, including skilled-nursing facilities (SNFs) and SNFs operated as distinct-part units of acute care hospitals.
What else to know: The regulations are effective June 21. Compliance with overall ratios is required beginning May 2026.
Submit Medicare Physician Attestation Statements by May 3
What’s happening: As a condition of participation, Medicare-certified hospitals must complete attestation and acknowledgment of physicians with newly granted admitting privileges in the previous calendar year.
What else to know: Attestation statements for 2023 should be submitted by May 3.
CHA Comments on Proposed Accrediting Organization Requirements
What’s happening: CHA submitted comments in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed changes to accrediting organization (AO) requirements.
What else to know: Comments were due to CMS on April 15.
CMS Revises Informed Consent Guidance for Hospitals
What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated its Hospital Interpretive Guidelines for Informed Consent.
What else to know: The guidance clarifies the need to obtain informed consent from patients to perform important surgical tasks, and sensitive or invasive procedures, as well as examinations outside of the medically necessary procedure.
BRN Seeks Input on Areas for Improvement
What’s happening: The California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) invites registered nurses and community stakeholders to complete its consumer satisfaction survey.
What else to know: Anyone who has interacted with or been contacted by the BRN is encouraged to complete the survey by May 27.
HCAI, OSHPD Release Design Guide for Planning and Preparing for Disasters
What’s happening: The Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) have released a new Design Guide for Planning and Preparing for Disasters to assist hospitals in planning, preparing, and responding to disasters.
What else to know: The 102-page document includes coordinating references and illustrations supporting hospitals’ obligation to save lives and prevent injury or property damage in their emergency response.
State Regulators, Hospital Leaders to Share Best Practices for Program Flex Requests
What’s happening: On April 24 from 9-10:30 a.m. (PT), CHA will host a members-only webinar to discuss trends and lessons learned related to program flex requests.
What else to know: Presenters include leadership from the California Department of Public Health and hospital leaders.
CHA Translates Required Patient Language Assistance Taglines
What’s happening: Regulations recently adopted by the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) under the Hospital Fair Pricing Policies Law require hospitals to provide “taglines” on patient documents in several different languages.
What else to know: The taglines inform patients that language assistance services are available and how to access them. CHA has included a tagline sheet with translations in 18 languages.
CDPH’s Centralized Application Evolution
The Center for Health Care Quality (CHCQ) licenses and certifies over 14,000 health care facilities and agencies in California in 30 different licensure and certification categories. Keeping licensing and certification practices consistent throughout California can be challenging. The Centralized Program Flex Unit (CPFU), a division of CHCQ, has a mission to ensure standardization and consistency […]
CHA Summary: Proposed Changes for Oversight of Accrediting Organizations
What’s happening: CHA is sharing its summary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed rule intended to strengthen oversight of accrediting organizations (AOs) such as The Joint Commission and Det Norske Veritas.
What else to know: While the proposed policies are applicable to AOs, several proposed changes will affect hospitals and health systems that rely on AO accreditation.