CMS issues final rule updating Medicare/Medicaid fire safety standards

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today issued a final rule adopting the National Fire Protection Association’s 2012 Life Safety Code (with minor amendments) and most chapters of its 2012 Health Care Facilities Code for hospitals, critical access hospitals, long-term care facilities, ambulatory surgical centers, inpatient hospice facilities and certain other facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The final rule will be published in tomorrow’s Federal Register and takes effect July 5. The LSC includes general requirements for all new and existing buildings, while the HCFC contains more detailed provisions for health care building systems and equipment. While the LSC is updated every three years, CMS currently uses the 2000 edition of the code. In addition to adopting the 2012 LSC and HCFC, the final rule will align certain requirements more closely to NFPA standards than originally proposed. AHA will continue to urge the agency to keep the fire safety standards more current going forward, as there is already a 2015 edition of the LSC.