This is a recording of a live webinar delivered on March 12, 2024.

This webinar will focus on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation (CoPs) swing bed and psychiatric services requirements for acute care hospitals. In 2019, CMS updated the State Operations Manual by incorporating psychiatric hospital requirements into Appendix A of the manual. In 2018, CMS incorporated swing bed requirements and interpretive guidelines from Appendix T into Appendix A. This session will address both areas of specialized services.

Laura A. Dixon, BS, JD, RN, CPHRM


Laura A. Dixon served as the director of risk management and patient safety for the Colorado Region of Kaiser Permanente. Prior to joining Kaiser, she served as the director, facility patient safety and risk management and operations for COPIC from 2014 to 2020. In her role, she provided patient safety and risk management consultation and training to facilities, practitioners, and staff in multiple states.

Dixon has more than 20 years of clinical experience in acute care facilities, including critical care, coronary care, peri-operative services, and pain management. Prior to joining COPIC, she served as the director, Western region, patient safety and risk management for The Doctors Company in Napa, California. In this capacity, she provided patient safety and risk management consultation to the physicians and staff for the western United States.

As a registered nurse and attorney, Dixon holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Regis University, RECEP of Denver, a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Drake University College of Law, Des Moines, Iowa, and a Registered Nurse Diploma from Saint Luke’s School Professional Nursing, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She is licensed to practice law in Colorado and California.

This speaker has no real or perceived conflicts of interest that relate to this presentation.

At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:

• Discuss swing bed qualification requirements.
• Recall the scope of patient rights for swing bed patients.
• Describe the special provisions that apply to psychiatric hospitals.
• Explain the five requirements for a written plan of care for psychiatric patients. 

The Georgia Hospital Association Research & Education Foundation is an approved provider of nursing home administrator credits as a professional trade association in long term care under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 393-13-.02, (1) (a). Approved for 2 contact hours. 

By attending Special Services: CMS Swing Bed and Psychiatric Services CoPs offered by Georgia Hospital Association, participants may earn up to 2 ACHE Qualifying Education Hours toward initial certification or recertification of the Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) designation. Attendees who wish to have the hours applied toward ACHE Qualifying Education credit must self-report their participation by logging into their MyACHE account and selecting ACHE Qualifying Education Credit. 

Please complete the course evaluation to earn your certificate of participation.

Contact us at education@gha.org with any questions.