The Joint Commission removed the "Life Safety" chapter from the office-based surgery practice manual.
The eligibility criteria for office-based surgery practices now align with the practice manual after the "life safety" chapter was removed. According to The Joint Commission, "The revised criteria limits office-based surgery practices to a business occupancy, which is an occupancy having only three or fewer patients at the same time who are either rendered incapable of self-preservation in an emergency or are undergoing general anesthesia."
The Life Safety chapter now applies just to organizations that are ambulatory healthcare occupancy, which allows four patients at the same time under general anesthesia or otherwise incapable of self-preservation during an emergency.
The update is effective immediately.