Just days after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new requirements that any Medicare-certified facility—amounting to almost all of the nation’s hospitals and long-term care facilities—must have a water management plan that includes routine testing for waterborne pathogens such as Legionella, LiquiTech is now offering easy online ordering of water testing and management plans.

The company, a pioneer in potable water disinfection, is making its water testing services available online. With just a couple of clicks, healthcare facilities can order testing kits for a range of pathogens. Using enclosed directions, they can collect samples, post them back to LiquiTech in a pre-paid package, and each test is reviewed by our chemical engineers who specialize in Legionella.

“We are pleased to make testing for these deadly bacteria more readily available to facilities that may not have much experience, expertise and reliable resources to solve this CMS compliance challenge within their facility,” said Tory Schira, LiquiTech’s Chief Operating Officer. “Testing alerts you to immediate patient safety threats, and informs your next steps in terms of remediation, including emergency response throughout the facility.”

LiquiTech uses accredited and CDC Elite certified labs for testing. Legionella testing and analysis takes at minimum 10-14 days to complete, however, if analysis is showing positive for Legionella earlier, a customer is notified immediately. If there are positive results, LiquiTech can help organizations through the process and provide remediation and other procedures to help eliminate the problem.

The test kits may include:

• Detection of Legionella (CDC Elite certified) in potable and non-potable water, both hot and cold.
• Heterotrophic plate count (HPC), used to measure the overall bacteriological content of drinking water.
• Test used to identify Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, which causes a variety of different illnesses, from ear and urinary tract infections to life-threatening pneumonia.
• Testing for additional bacteria and contaminants as outlined by the CMS and CDC are available upon request.

Testing and validation is essential to a successful water management strategy, informing corrective actions and validating the efficacy of those interventions. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed environmental testing for Legionella to validate the effectiveness of control measures, and noted that such testing ought to be provided in any healthcare facility, as older and sicker people are most susceptible to contracting Legionnaires’ disease.

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