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EMERGENCY POWER PLANNING GUIDE FOR OUTPATIENT SURGERY

How to Understand, Assess, and Select the Best Emergency Power Solution

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Backup power is a requirement for any Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) and a critical safety consideration for every Office-Based Surgery (OBS) environment. With an aging and strained electrical grid, power outages are more common than ever. Natural disasters, severe weather, and utility failures are among the leading causes of these events.
Without reliable power, the ability to run critical operating room equipment is lost, exposing patients to alarming risk. An emergency backup power system can eliminate this risk by supplying power long enough to finish the procedure safely and relocate the patient. However, the dangerous design and installation of an emergency backup power system can come with troubles. It requires understanding multiple codes and regulations, and ensuring compliance with the right ones can be overwhelming. Besides, we have observed that no single party fully understands every aspect of the required standby power system. As a result, designed systems often become oversized, costing much more than necessary, or undersized and failing to meet regulations. We hope to share our extensive knowledge with you so that all parties can collaborate to optimize the most practical system for the requirement. The purpose of this guide is to simplify this process into a document that engineers, architects, physicians, and consultants can all find useful.
HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN FIND WITHIN THIS GUIDE:
  • Accreditation Requirement
  • NFPA 99 Guidelines
  • Comparison of Backup Power System Types
  • Why Battery Backup is the Most Viable Solution
WHY YOU NEED EMERGENCY POWER
  • What Type of Power System Does Your Surgery Center Require? – No concrete requirements or regulations that stipulate what type of power system best fits various surgery centers. Determining the best approach is often a haphazard process involving estimates and best guesses that might let you down when it matters. Here, we provide a handy process and flowchart-style diagram to determine your surgery center’s requirements.
  • Types of Surgery Centers – With the shift from inpatient to outpatient care, we are seeing an increased focus on swiftly getting medical care to those who need it. A critical step towards identifying the type of power system for your surgery center is understanding what type of facility you operate and the nature of work you do. We explain the types of surgery centers that have surfaced due to this trend and how their emergency power needs compare.
  • How State, Local, and Medicare Requirements Affect You – States have differing requirements for surgery centers, and local regulations can dilute these even further. Codes mandating standards relating to electrical, mechanical, and other systems must be strictly followed, but how do you cut through the noise of a multitude of state, local, and agency codes? Learn here how these requirements might affect your surgery center and what codes will be accepted where your center is based.
Learn more about emergency power outages for outpatient surgery with our new ‘Planning Guide.’
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UNDERSTANDING ACCREDITATION AND COMPLIANCE
  • What Accreditation Company is Suited to Your Practice? – Although they carry a lower accreditation burden than inpatient centers, accreditation is still a huge asset for outpatient surgery centers. Accreditation assures patients of the pedigree of your surgery center and the quality of care they can expect to receive there. However, there are various accreditation bodies to choose from, and most have varying requirements and standards. Learn about these bodies here and how they fit the accreditation needs of outpatient surgery centers.
  • NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) Codes for Outpatient Surgery Backup Power – – Every aspect of the design, installation, and maintenance of healthcare facilities in the US is strictly regulated, and emergency power systems are no different. What codes and standards must be complied with as you optimize your backup power system? This section provides an overview of the most critical codes to comply with.
  • What is Required to Comply with the NFPA 99 Code? – NFPA 99 specifically requires a source of backup power, in addition to other standards that apply to electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and medical gas and vacuum systems. Surgery and health centers must maintain the appropriate standards to ensure high-quality care and good patient outcomes. We explain what the code requires about outpatient care centers, particularly the requirement for an EES.

Learn more about emergency power outage FOR OUTPATIENT SURGERY With our new “Planning Guide”

CLICK HERE TO READ

Learn more about emergency power outage FOR OUTPATIENT SURGERY With our new “Planning Guide”

CLICK HERE TO READ
WHY BATTERY BACKUP IS THE
MOST VIABLE SOLUTION
  • What is an EES (Essential Electric System)? – Essential Electrical Systems are required to provide alternate power for surgery centers and the central utility power system. NFPA 99 details three specific branches that must be supported by an EES and are expected to receive power in order of importance. This section explains the three branches that must receive power from an EES and the components that will require power within these branches.
  • Types of Essential Electrical Systems – EES may be Type 1, Type 2, or Type 3 systems. Each of these has specific spaces it must inhabit based on a risk assessment under NFPA 99. The applicable risk categories include four categories, each on a sliding scale from highest to lowest. Determining what risk categories apply to the spaces within your surgery center will be critical to identifying what EES systems are required to provide emergency backup to those spaces. This section explains each EES type and the risk category spaces they must serve.
  • Equipment Per Specialty – Beyond merely explaining the considerations surgery centers should note as they optimize their backup power system, this section provides a visual tool to aid stakeholders. This guide contains a comprehensive chart to help visualize what equipment is required to complete a procedure in each specialty after a power failure. Identifying the equipment you cannot afford to lose during a power outage will be important to determining your emergency power needs.

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COMPARING SOURCES OF
EMERGENCY POWER
  • When Does a Fuel Powered Generator Make Sense? – NFPA 99 specifies two different types of alternate power sources: battery systems and fuel powered generator sets. Fuel powered generator sets potentially provide a lot of backup power. However, this will typically come with sizable operating and maintenance costs. This section assesses fuel powered generator sets to determine when they will be useful and their advantages for surgery centers.
  • When Are Battery Systems More Practical? – Battery technology has seen significant advances within the past decade. But are they suited to the backup power needs of your surgery care, especially considering the varying, and sometimes heavy, power loads that might be required? Learn how they compare to fuel powered generators within this section.
  • Fuel Generator Considerations – If you have decided to install a fuel powered generator as your surgery center’s backup power system, what should you keep in mind? Will installation space be a concern for you? Or will you require a modular solution for mobile use or stationary installation as the circumstances demand? These are the most important considerations around installing a fuel powered generator system, including the advantages and disadvantages of choosing this solution. storage.
  • Battery Backup System Considerations – Are you leaning more towards a battery backup system? Then you should know the advantages and limitations that this system might bring, as well as the considerations to note before installing the system. Will a battery backup system provide the power you need to operate your most important equipment? Will it provide sufficient power to last through even an extended outage, especially one that occurs around a busy period? This section analyzes battery backup systems. storage.

FUEL BACKUP SETUP

BATTERY BACKUP SETUP

DEPLOYING A MEDIPRODUCTS SOLUTION
  • Mediproducts System Types – How do Mediproducts support your surgery center’s quest to optimize a backup power system molded to your emergency power needs? Explore our modular battery backup systems here, including what power needs they might be procured to handle and how they scale to cater to the emergency needs of a growing surgery center.
  • Common Misconceptions About Battery Backup – Due to their often modular nature and unobtrusive operation, there’s a tendency towards skepticism at the power of battery backup systems. In this final section we address some common misconceptions about battery systems, including questions about their capacity and maintenance needs.

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