Compliance of community hospitals with the chemical facility anti-terrorism standards (CFATS) in the western United States

The overarching goal of this study was to understand and quantify the level of implementation of Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) among community hospitals. Three hypotheses were developed for this study: (1) more than 50% of surveyed accredited hospitals are aware of CFATS; (2) < 30% of hospitals are in compliance with CFATS; and (3) the accreditation process is conducive to CFATS compliance. Community hospitals in the western United States were randomly surveyed for CFATS awareness and compliance. Statistical analyses of the survey data were performed to test the hypotheses and examine possible data correlation. The results indicated that at least 50% of accredited large and medium hospitals were aware of CFATS, and more than 50% of small hospitals were aware of CFATS. The survey results also showed that, with the exception of Alaska, most states in the western US had compliance rates significantly <30%. Although the survey results revealed that there was no significant difference between accredited and non-accredited community hospitals when comparing the level of compliance, an opportunity exists for voluntary hospital accreditation agencies to include CFATS as part of the emergency preparedness accreditation process to increase the CFATS compliance level among community hospitals.