Patient Rights: Abuse, Restraints and Seclusion

Audience

This program is for all hospitals and anyone involved with compliance regulations and standards, including behavioral health and psychiatric staff, CEOs, chief medical officers, chief nursing officers, compliance officers and legal counsel, emergency department staff, nurses, physicians, quality improvement staff, risk managers, safety officers, and The Joint Commission liaisons

The following program content was provided by the speaker.

Overview

Hospitals must comply with the conditions of participation of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to CMS and accrediting organizations such as Det Norske Veritas and TJC, the patient rights and responsibilities CoP consistently ranks among the top condition-level deficiencies cited. Within that condition, most noncompliance issues arise from the regulations governing abuse, restraints and seclusion.

Objectives

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

• describe abuse investigation requirements
• describe the documentation requirements for restraints and seclusion
• explain CMS definitions of abuse, restraints and seclusion
• explain restraint death reporting requirements

Speaker

Nancy Ruzicka is a consultant on state and federal rules, regulations and interpretative guidelines. Ruzicka previously worked as director of integrity and compliance and privacy official at MercyOne Des Moines and director of regulatory compliance at UnityPoint Health-Des Moines. She also has more than 20 years of experience with the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. Ruzicka holds master’s degrees in health law and business administration and a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, all from Drake University. She is certified in health care compliance and maintains her Iowa pharmacy license.