JCAHO considers expansion of disaster privileging standard

The JCAHO is considering expanding its standard that allows the granting of disaster privileges.

Currently, disaster privileges apply only to licensed independent practitioners (LIPs) working in hospitals. However, the JCAHO is considering extending them to cover non-LIPs, according to Robert A. Wise, MD, vice president of the JCAHO's division of standards and survey methods. Wise made the comments in a presentation at the National Credentialing Forum in February.

The JCAHO adopted a new disaster privileging standard in 2002 allowing physicians who are not members of the medical staff but who volunteer their services during an emergency to receive disaster privileges. The standard gives a hospital's chief executive officer or medical staff president (or their designees) the option to grant disaster privileges when the hospital's emergency management plan is activated and the facility cannot handle "immediate patient needs."

The JCAHO is also looking at expanding disaster privileges for both LIPs and non-LIPs to all programs, including ambulatory care, assisted living, critical access hospitals, laboratories, and long-term care facilities.

The proposed new requirements for disaster job responsibilities for non-LIP volunteers are now in committee review, according to the April issue of the JCAHO's Perspectives.