Empowering Compliance: Fire Inspection Reporting for Healthcare Facilities

Regulatory requirements in healthcare facilities are often more extensive than those of other commercial facilities. And fire safety is more than just a regulatory requirement—it  ensures the well-being of staff, patients, and visitors, and the continued operation of critical medical procedures.

With that, robust fire inspection reporting becomes a crucial–and required–means of identifying and mitigating potential hazards, maintaining compliance, and, ultimately, protecting lives and property.

However, creating compliant reports is often challenging for fire protection businesses due to complex and evolving regulatory requirements, the need for data accuracy and specialized technical knowledge, and the high cost of training and document management.

Inspect Point Updates

Inspect Point understands the complex and critical task of maintaining fire safety compliance in healthcare facilities. We’ve long been a trusted partner in streamlining the ITM processes for fire protection businesses.

That’s why Inspect Point is taking its support to the next level with several significant updates designed to enhance fire inspection reporting and ensure healthcare facilities meet all necessary standards, including:

• Expanded support for Joint Commission fire alarm and emergency generator inspection reports
• Improved, configurable DNV report templates

Joint Commission Inspection Reports in Inspect Point

The Joint Commission is a non-profit organization that accredits over 22,000 U.S. healthcare organizations, including hospitals, nursing homes, mental health facilities, laboratories, and more. While the Joint Commission does not provide or mandate a specific report template, they do have requirements regarding what the inspection report includes.

The Joint Commission uses Environment of Care (EC) standards and Elements of Performance (EP) codes as part of the accreditation process. This accreditation is unique to healthcare facilities, assessing compliance with standards related to the physical environment, safety, and other aspects of healthcare delivery. Thus, a standard NFPA inspection report is insufficient to satisfy the Joint Commission’s reporting requirements.

Inspect Point accommodates a variety of Joint Commission EP codes, including those for fire alarm and emergency generator inspection and testing reports. This functionality is available immediately to customers upon onboarding for no additional fees.

Once the Joint Commission templates are active within your Inspect Point account, technicians can complete an inspection on a Joint Commission building and submit it to the office. Office staff can then produce a Joint Commission report that either includes information for all EP codes or only for select EP codes.

DNV Template Enhancements in Inspect Point

Since 2008, DNV, or Det Norske Veritas, has accredited approximately 500 hospitals across the United States. Most hospitals will be accredited by a single accrediting body. If your customer isn’t accredited by the Joint Commission, DNV is a likely alternative.

In terms of healthcare accreditations, there are a few key differences between DNV and Joint Commission:

• The Joint Commission accredits various healthcare organizations, including hospitals, behavioral health facilities, home health agencies, and nursing homes. DNV focuses primarily on hospitals and larger healthcare systems.
• DNV surveys occur every year, whereas Joint Commission surveys occur every three years. Hospital staff members may prefer DNV processes, as they feel this keeps the facility in better shape and avoids a stressful scramble at the three year mark. But, just like with the Joint Commission, reports must be filed in binders to be reviewed by auditors.

While Inspect Point has historically provided a basic DNV report template, we’ve recently improved our DNV offering to better serve you and your customers.

Robust fire inspection reporting is a crucial–and required–means of identifying and mitigating potential hazards, maintaining compliance, and protecting lives and property.

Our DNV reports include a cover sheet, summary, inspection results, and signature page. Unlike the Joint Commission, DNV reports do not use EP codes. Instead, the report displays relevant content from DNV’s NIAHO standard that leverages NFPA standards. Once the inspection is complete, Inspect Point office users can choose to generate a full DNV report or a report for a specific device type.

Benefits of Inspect Point’s Healthcare Facility Reporting Features

Confidence in Compliance

Fire protection companies using Inspect Point’s Joint Commission or DNV functionalities can feel confident their reports fulfill all reporting standards. Our reporting has already been used at and accepted by, many large hospitals and healthcare facilities across the U.S.

“This is perfect. I wish all ITM providers’ reports looked this good,” reported James Kendig, Field Director for the Life Safety Code Surveyors/Engineers at The Joint Commission, upon reviewing  a report from Ascension hospital system in Texas, the nation’s largest private healthcare system.

Built-in Configurability

While there are standard components of healthcare facility inspection reports, there is often variability among auditors and unique requirements. Inspect Point offers multiple configuration options to ensure the report output meets the needs of your end customer:

• Include a cover sheet for each EP code or just a single cover sheet for the entire report
• Include a signature for each EP code
• Include an “Elements of Performance” breakdown
• Export a report featuring all EP codes/devices or just select codes/devices

Generate Reports with One Click

Just like other reports in Inspect Point, you can generate Joint Commission and DNV reports with just one click. Access to healthcare compliance reporting features is built-in to Inspect Point, at no additional cost. And, since the end customer will need to print the report for their binder, contractors can be confident the report is formatted to print well.

Versatility in Inspections

Inspect Point works for every kind of inspection your business conducts. A technician can inspect every building in a strip mall, from a healthcare provider to a commercial building to a restaurant–all within Inspect Point.

Familiar Workflows

Your technicians don’t have to learn a new workflow to complete a healthcare-compliant inspection. The process is identical to any other building–there’s no need to navigate clunky PDFs or document templates. Technicians can simply answer questions and identify deficiencies in the mobile application, and office staff can generate the report of their choice with just one click.

Increased Customer Satisfaction

High-quality, professional, and accurate reports build trust with customers. Plus, additional features like the Customer Portal, which centralizes and organizes all reports, key documents, and upcoming visits, make it easy for hospitals and other healthcare facilities to access what they need to fulfill accreditation requirements.

The ability to produce healthcare-compliant reports and other fully customizable, professional reports for additional industries within a single platform is an unmatched feature. Whether the building you’re inspecting requires a Joint Commission or DNV report, we’ve got you covered.