Does CIHQ accredit critical access hospitals?

Yes. CIHQ accredits both acute care and critical access hospitals.

Can you help respond to CIHQ deficiencies?

Yes. Plan of correction drafting, corrective work coordination and revisit verification are included.

Accreditation readiness

CIHQ Life Safety Survey Readiness

The Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ) accredits acute care and critical access hospitals under a CMS-deemed program with standards written to track the Conditions of Participation closely. The Physical Environment and Life Safety portion is surveyed to the NFPA 101 and NFPA 99 requirements CMS has adopted.

CIHQ-accredited hospitals are often community and critical access hospitals with small facilities teams, which is exactly the profile SRC's program is built for.

What a CIHQ readiness review covers

Physical Environment standards: Life Safety Code compliance, utilities, fire protection
Building systems inspection, testing and maintenance documentation
Fire door assemblies, barrier management and egress
Emergency power supply systems
Emergency preparedness program and exercises
Plan of correction drafting and verification

Standards that track CMS

Because CIHQ standards are organized to mirror the Conditions of Participation, a readiness review built around the CMS Life Safety requirements prepares a hospital for both the accreditation survey and any state agency validation survey.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. SRC prepares for the Physical Environment and Life Safety portion of the CIHQ survey.