Infection Prevention: Guiding Hospitals Toward Effective, Compliant, and Sustainable Solutions

Overview: 

During this session, we will discuss the most recent updates to the Infection Prevention section in the CMS Conditions of Participation, the most frequently cited issues, and strategies to leverage scarce resources to meet Infection Prevention vulnerabilities. There will also be opportunity for questions and discussion.

Objectives: 

• Identify the most frequently cited findings during regulatory surveys
• Understand the updated Infection Prevention section in the CMS Conditions of Participation
• Identify specific challenges and resources to leverage in key hospital departments
• List keys to successful survey preparation

Presenter: Phillip Boaz, RN, MSN, CIC, Senior Consultant, Chartis Clinical Quality Solutions

Phillip Boaz is a Senior Consultant with Chartis Clinical Quality Solutions. He brings his clients more than 30 years of consulting and healthcare experience in the areas of critical care and trauma nursing, infection prevention, risk management, and regulatory compliance. With a background as a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) surveyor in Texas, he leads full regulatory rehearsals (mock surveys) to prepare clients for upcoming regulatory visits. He also assists clients in crafting realistic and sustainable plans of correction in response to survey findings.

Prior to joining the firm, Phillip was System Director of Risk Management for a hospital system in East Texas, which included two hospitals, an ambulatory surgery center, and two off-site emergency departments. He was a CMS and state licensure surveyor for the Texas Department of State Health Services for nearly five years. There, he conducted over 130 comprehensive surveys and complaint investigations at regulated health facilities to determine compliance with state and federal regulations. Phillip was also the Infection Control Director for a full-service, 425-bed regional referral hospital for over six years and a Trauma Clinical Coordinator in a level 1, high-volume university teaching hospital for more than seven years.

Phillip is a Registered Nurse and received his Master of Science in nursing as an acute/critical care clinical nurse specialist from Vanderbilt University and his Bachelor of Science in biology and chemistry from Georgetown College. He is a member of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and holds a Certification in Infection Prevention and Control (CIC) from APIC’s Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology (CBIC).