Critical Access Hospital Program

Dates

• Wednesday, March 19
• Wednesday, March 26
• Wednesday, April 2

Audience

CEOs; COOs; CFOs; chief nursing officers; chief medical officers; physicians; nurse executives, nurses and nurse managers; risk managers; patient safety officers; health care attorneys; compliance officers; directors and managers of pharmacy, quality, accreditation, health information management, medical records, social work, dietary, radiology, emergency department, outpatient, surgical services, laboratory, infection control, safety and security, and facility management; TJC coordinators; policy and procedure committee members; ethics committee members; and any staff responsible for ensuring compliance with CMS Conditions of Participation

Overview

This three-part virtual series will provide an overview of the critical access hospital CoP regulations, interpretative guidelines, and related quality, safety, and oversight letters to state survey agencies. Many new regulations and interpretative guidelines have been promulgated for CAHs over the last few years. This series will assist in efforts to comply with challenging new areas, patient rights, infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship emergency preparedness, quality assessment and performance improvement, and other commonly cited areas of noncompliance.

Speaker

Nancy Ruzicka is a recognized expert on state and federal rules, regulations and interpretative guidelines for hospitals, CAHs, rural health clinics and other Medicare-certified entities. She previously worked as a director of integrity and compliance and privacy official at Mercy Medical Center — Des Moines; as director of regulatory compliance at UnityPoint Health, West Des Moines; and has more than 20 years of experience with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, which is the Medicare state survey agency in Iowa. She also was a practicing pharmacist for 35 years. Ruzicka holds master’s degrees in health law and business administration and a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, all from Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa. She is certified in health care compliance and maintains her Iowa pharmacy license.