Licensing & Accreditation

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.

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.  

CMS Issues Enforcement Discretion Guidance for Prior Authorization Standards

What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued enforcement discretion guidance for entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) that are implementing certain prior authorization application programming interfaces (APIs). 

What else to know: This is in response to finalized policies to advance interoperability and electronic prior authorization processes.  

CMS Updates Hospital Guidance for Texting Patient Info

What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated guidance for hospitals and critical access hospitals related to texting patient information.  

What else to know: Hospitals should use a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant secure texting platform that complies with Medicare and Medicaid conditions of participation.  

Changes Proposed for Accrediting Organizations Requirements

What’s happening: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued proposed changes to accrediting organization (AO) requirements.  

What else to know: The proposed changes are intended to strengthen the agency’s oversight of AOs and prevent conflicts of interest. Comments are due to CMS by 2 p.m. (PT) on April 15.