Patient Care Related Electrical Equipment
The Division of Quality Assurance (DQA) is sharing the following message regarding federal surveys.
Long-term care facilities are required to test Patient Care Related Electrical Equipment (PCREE) to ensure safe operating conditions. The goal of the testing is to minimize electrical injury to a resident who is routinely in direct contact with energized medical equipment located in a resident’s room.
Generally, facilities comply with this regulation when the PCREE is tested in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations prior to being put into service and after repair. Ongoing testing intervals are documented in alignment with the manufacturer’s recommendations and facility procedures.
NFPA 99 – 2012 Edition is available at www.nfpa.org with details in Chapter 10, sections 10.3 and 10.5. Federal surveyors may reference this topic with Life Safety Tag K-921, which has a summary of the issue on Page 44 of CMS-2786R.
