ACLF Interpretative Guidelines
Tennessee Board for Licensing Health Care Facilities New Interpretative Guidelines for ACLF’s
January 14, 2016
The Board for Licensing Health Care Facilities approved several new Interpretative Guidelines at its January meeting, one of which governs Cooking Appliances in Assisted Living. Below is a link to the state website. http://tennessee.gov/assets/entities/health/attachments/Interpretive_Guidelines.pdf
The new guideline on cooking appliances is to assist communities in understanding how to comply with the Life Safety provisions of the rules, specifically 1200-08-25-.10(2)(h) which provides that cooking appliances other than microwaves are prohibited in resident “sleeping units.” Recently a community was cited for having a sandwich maker present during an inspection which was considered by the surveyor to be a cooking appliance. The new guideline requires that each facility have a policy on cooking appliances and that any cooking appliance allowed much meet “applicable codes and standards” as well as facility safety standards. In addition, any cooking appliance present in a community must have an automatic shut off.
January 15, 2015
- Definition of Secured Unit – 1200-08-25-.02(31)
Until the new standards are effective for the above regulation, the Board for Licensing Health Care Facilities interprets the above regulation to mean that a facility shall only use delayed egress locking mechanisms to deny egress from the distinct part secured unit in accordance with current Board adopted life safety codes.
- Storage of Resident Medication – 1200-08-25-.07(5)(c)
The Board for Licensing Health Care Facilities interprets the above regulation to allow storage of resident medication via a locked or closed container and/or room which includes, but is not limited to, some type of box; piece of furniture; an individual resident room; and/or a designated room within the facility which maintains resident medication out of the sight of other residents.
- Flu Vaccination – 1200-08-25-.06(5)(b)
The Board for Licensing Health Care Facilities interprets the above regulations to include the licensed facility encouraging all staff and independent practitioners to obtain an influenza vaccination and education of all employees on the influenza vaccination, non-vaccine control measures, and the impact of influenza.
May 6, 2015
- Clarification of the Term ‘beds” and Capacity for Licensed Facilities.
All relevant licensed facility types excluding licensed hospitals shall have licensed capacity based upon the number of residents residing in the facility.
September 18, 2015
- Disaster Plan, HVAC and Emergency Generator Regulations – 1200-08-25-.16(4)
For the above regulation, it is the intent of the Board to apply in lieu of the current regulatory language for ACLF and RHA the Nursing Home (NH) regulation 1200-08-06-.14(2)(a)2 until the change in the ACLF and RHA regulatory language found at 1200-08-25-.16(4) and 1200-08-11-.13(3), respectively, is effective.
- Infection Control – 1200-08-25-.06(5)(a)
For the above regulation, it is interpreted to mean no specific screening requirement such as documentation by a licensed healthcare provider be present in facility personnel or patient records to “ensure” no reportable communicable disease. “Shall ensure” interpreted to mean if a facility determines staff or resident has a communicable disease an approved protocol by the Board’s administrative staff must be present in the facility. How determination is made of the presence of a communicable disease would be through facility policy.
- Corridor Width Requirements – 1200-0825-.10(2)(f)
Define the term ‘clear’ in the above rule as an area of unobstructed egress that conforms to a minimum established criteria based on calculations as defined by applicable life safety code.