If The American Health Care Association (AHCA) has its way, every nursing home in the United States will be equipped with a fully monitored sprinkler system. AHCA recently encouraged the Congress to consider the Nursing Fire Safety Act legislation that Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) introduced to the 108 Congress.
The act would provide funding for the installation of fire sprinkler systems in nursing homes through Medicaid and Medicare. Legislation would set a five-year deadline before nursing homes could be found out of compliance. In addition, it would enable providers to amortize the expense over a five-year period, making it retroactive to September 2003.
AHCA says that Larson will reintroduce the Nursing Fire Safety Act legislation again this session.
According to AHCA, two new reports are now available from the International Association of Fire Chiefs that expound on the importance of enhancing fire safety measures in health-care facilities. They include a call for training and education on how to improve life safety and injury prevention in health-care facilities. The reports, says AHCA, are the outcome of roundtable meetings that were held in 2004 in which AHCA participated.
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