Chief among the changes to the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care's new standards for 2010 are a new chapter on infection control and a new section for AAAHC/Medicare Deemed Status. The revisions will be effective with the publication in February of the 2010 Accreditation Handbook for Ambulatory Health Care.

The new Chapter Seven, Infection Prevention and Control, and Safety, pulls standards from several existing chapters into 1 chapter for the ease of the user and also includes new standards. It's a core chapter that applies to all organizations seeking accreditation, and is the first new core chapter to be added since the first edition of the Handbook, says AAAHC.

Beginning with the 2010 Handbook, all AAAHC/Medicare deemed information, which appears in chapters throughout the handbook, will also be contained in a separate section, entitled Policies and Procedures for Ambulatory Surgery Centers Seeking AAAHC Accreditation and Medicare Deemed Status. This new section, which advises organizations seeking AAAHC/Medicare deemed status, includes a reference document demonstrating the "crosswalk" between AAAHC standards and Medicare requirements for ambulatory surgery centers.

Other revisions to the AAAHC standards include new directions for demolition, construction or renovation of ambulatory organizations and additional requirements for risk management.

The 2010 Handbook will be shrink-wrapped, rather than bound, and three-hole punched so it can be put into a binder. This will let you share and remove pages, add in pages of notes or other materials and use the handbook as a working document, says AAAHC.

AAAHC says that organizations submitting an application for survey to AAAHC on or before Feb. 26, 2010, and those that are surveyed on or before June 30, 2010, will be surveyed according to 2009 standards. Organizations submitting an application for survey on or after March 1, 2010, and/or are surveyed after June 30, 2010, will be surveyed according to 2010 standards.

Dan O'Connor