The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in a June 20 Survey and Certification Letter that it will begin surveying facilities for compliance with the 2012 edition of the National Fire Protection Association 101 – Life Safety Code (LSC) and 2012 edition of the NFPA 99 – Health Care Facilities Code on Nov. 1, 2016.

CMS adopted the 2012 LSC and the 2012 HCFC by final rule on May 4, with a July 5 effective date. By setting an enforcement date of Nov. 1, CMS will have the opportunity to train existing surveyors, revise fire safety survey forms, and update the ASPEN program with new regulation sets that correlate with the 2012 LSC and HCFC requirements and associated K-tags.

The S&C Letter states that surveyors will continue to use the current process, tags and forms until Nov. 1, 2016. In instances where the survey process identified deficiencies that would be compliant under the 2012 LSC, a facility may verify compliance with the 2012 LSC as an acceptable plan of correction and the deficiency would not be cited.