Nursing Home Sprinkler Requirements

On March 13, 2008, CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) published a final rule announcing the amendment of regulations concerning nursing home fire safety requirements.  42 CFR 483.70(a)(8)(i) requires all nursing homes participating in the Medicare or Medicaid programs to be protected throughout by a supervised automatic sprinkler system.

CMS concurrently adopted 42 CFR 483.70(a)(8)(i) pertaining to the inspection, testing and maintenance of sprinkler systems and specified that these activities must be done in accord with the 1998 edition of NFPA 25, Standard for the Inspection Testing and Maintenance of Water-Base Fire Protection Systems.

Consistent with Title 10 NYCRR, providers are required to complete all steps in accordance with the timeline below:

• Complete the Nursing Home Sprinkler Survey, which is located on the HPN, by November 23, 2009.
• Submit a sprinkler design, funding and installation plan by June 1, 2010, if the nursing home does not currently meet the CMS requirement to the Bureau of Architectural and Engineering Facilities Planning, Hedley Park Place, 433 River Street, Troy, New York 12180.  (Please note that the equity contribution for work directly attributed to the sprinkler mandate will be set at 15%).
• Submit a CON application by January 1, 2011 if sprinkler installation or upgrades are necessary to the Bureau of Property Management, Hedley Park Place, 433 River Street, Troy, New York 12180.  Submission by the due date will allow department review and a full 2-year period to complete final design and sprinkler installation by August 2013.

Based on this information, we would like to offer our assistance in helping you comply with these new regulations and meet the appropriate deadlines. 

We are a full service fire protection company.  We have a fully trained design staff, with professional engineers on staff.  We are your one-stop Design Build contractor.  We will design/layout a sprinkler system for your facility to meet all state, local, and fire protection codes with your “cost” in mind.  We will manage the installation and work with the staff and residents to minimize disruption.  Our design drawings will be submitted to New York State Department of Health for approvals.    Eliminate “needless” professional engineering firm middlemen.  We are your one stop design/installation professionals.

Our company has working relationships with multiple construction management companies that would be available to assist with any construction work.

We are also pleased to let you know that we have arranged to have a company ready to assist with financing.  To take advantage of this, please feel free to contact our office and discuss the financing options that are being made available.

We look forward to helping you meet the new requirements placed upon you, and assist you in any way that we are able to.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office and we would be happy to answer them for you.  We look forward to working with you on this, and any other future projects that you may have.