In This Article
Oxygen concentrators sit in nearly every skilled nursing facility, and because they're electrically powered and make direct contact with a resident's care environment, they're squarely within PCREE scope under NFPA 99 Chapter 10. Despite that, they're one of the more commonly overlooked devices in facility testing programs — often because they're viewed as durable medical equipment rather than "patient care electrical equipment," a distinction that doesn't hold up under a surveyor's definition.
Why Oxygen Concentrators Require PCREE Testing
An oxygen concentrator is an electrically powered device that operates in direct proximity to a resident, frequently for extended periods, sometimes continuously. That combination — electrical power plus patient care contact — is exactly what NFPA 99 Chapter 10 defines as PCREE. Facilities sometimes assume that because a concentrator doesn't touch the resident's skin the way a monitor lead does, it falls outside PCREE scope. It doesn't: NFPA 99's definition covers equipment used in the patient care vicinity, not only equipment in direct physical contact.
What Gets Tested
Testing follows the standard PCREE protocol: chassis leakage current, ground resistance from the chassis to the ground pin, and polarity, measured with a calibrated electrical safety analyzer. For oxygen concentrators specifically, technicians also typically verify the power cord and internal wiring are free of damage given how frequently these units are moved between rooms or plugged and unplugged during resident transfers.
Facility-Owned vs. Resident-Owned Units
A frequent point of confusion: some residents bring their own personal oxygen concentrator rather than using facility-owned equipment. Resident-owned equipment used in a Medicare/Medicaid-certified facility generally still falls within the facility's PCREE program responsibility while it's in use on the premises — the facility's Equipment Management Plan should explicitly address how resident-owned devices are inventoried, tested, or otherwise accounted for, since "it's not ours" isn't a defense a surveyor will accept if a resident-owned concentrator was never evaluated for basic electrical safety.
Practical approach: facilities that don't want to formally PCREE-test every resident-owned device typically document a policy requiring resident-owned electrical equipment to be inspected by facility maintenance or biomed staff for visible damage before use, with a note in the EMP explaining the facility's approach. Whatever the policy, it needs to be written down and applied consistently.
Testing Frequency
Annual testing is the NFPA 99 minimum for facility-owned oxygen concentrators, with pre-use testing for newly acquired units and post-repair testing after any service. High-turnover facilities with a large durable medical equipment fleet often find it efficient to test all oxygen concentrators, along with other DME-adjacent PCREE equipment, during the same annual visit as the rest of the facility's PCREE inventory.
Documentation Surveyors Expect
Each facility-owned oxygen concentrator should appear in the equipment inventory with a test record showing measured leakage current and ground resistance values, the test date, and the technician's CBET credential number — the same standard applied to hospital beds and monitors. For resident-owned units, the facility's written policy on inspection should be available, along with any inspection log the policy calls for.
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About the Author
PCREE Test Editorial Team
Content reviewed by biomedical professionals with experience in patient care electrical equipment testing, NFPA 99 compliance, and CMS Life Safety survey preparation for skilled nursing facilities.