ASHP Partners with CMS on Hospital Surveyor Training Course

PRESS RELEASE

ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) is partnering with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide an online training course for hospital and critical access hospital (CAH) surveyors on pharmaceutical compounding and USP Chapter <797> standards. The three-part course will help surveyors assess compliance with the nursing and pharmaceutical services requirements related to compounding and safety practices.

All of CMS’ more than 2,000 surveyors across the country will be required to take the first two modules in the ASHP Sterile Compounding Competency Library as well as a third learning module regarding CMS regulations. Each of the ASHP course modules takes about an hour to complete and includes interactive exercises, Q&A sections, and video clips demonstrating essential USP <797> requirements.

The entire three-part course is estimated to take four to six hours to complete.

“ASHP is committed to patient safety, and we are proud to help CMS provide this essential training to hospital and CAH surveyors,” said ASHP CEO Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D., Sc.D. (Hon.), FASHP. “ASHP has been the recognized leader in education, training, and best practice on sterile and non-sterile compounding for decades. ASHP’s online interactive education courses will help ensure that hospital surveyors have the training they need to make informed determinations on adherence by healthcare organizations to CMS sterile compounding requirements.”

The ASHP courses provide CMS surveyors with a basic understanding of the technical components of compounding — such as terminology, equipment, and aseptic technique &mdash; which is helpful for surveyors who assess these practices in relation to the Conditions of Participation and Conditions for Coverage requirements in hospitals and other acute care facilities.