Process Surveillance Plus QAPI Equals Better Infection Prevention Training

Nursing homes are required to establish a surveillance system (i.e., “the routine, ongoing, and systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of surveillance data”) as part of their infection prevention and control program (IPCP) under F-tag 880 (Infection Prevention and Control) in Appendix PP of the State Operations Manual. This surveillance …

Common Missteps in Addressing Plan of Correction Criteria and Best Practices for Compliance Sustainability

According to the Nursing Homes webpage of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) site, “Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and nursing facilities (NFs) are required to be in compliance with the requirements in 42 CFR Part 483, Subpart B, to receive payment under the Medicare or Medicaid programs. To …

Learn How to Take Staff Survey Preparation From Reactive to Proactive

“Why in the world did my staff member say this?” and “Why did my staff do that?” are two questions that no director of nursing services (DNS) wants to have when reading the Statement of Deficiencies and Plan of Correction (form CMS-2567) handed out by the state survey team at …

TIP: Healthcare Personnel Influenza Vaccination Data Webinars

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is now requiring all certified skilled nursing facilities to report healthcare personnel influenza data through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). The reporting period for this data is Oct. 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024, and must be submitted by May 15, …

OIG: Lessons Learned During the Pandemic Can Help Improve Care in Nursing Homes

Issued on 02/26/2024 | Posted on 02/29/2024 | Report number: OEI-02-20-00492 Report Materials Full Report (PDF, 1.5 MB) Why OIG Did This Review Nursing home residents and staff have been especially impacted by the COVID‑19 pandemic. Now, it is critical to learn from what happened in nursing homes and take steps to better protect residents and staff during …

OIG Plans to Publish Nursing Home Compliance Program Guidance in 2024

update existing compliance program guidance documents (CPGs) and deliver new CPGs. OIG intends to publish industry segment-specific CPGs (ICPGs) focused on Medicare Advantage and nursing facilities in 2024. After addressing these segments, OIG anticipates publishing updated ICPGs for hospitals and clinical laboratories.  If you would like to provide feedback related to any …

NHSN HCP Flu Vaccination Module Announcement and Feb – April Webinars

Announcements This is a friendly reminder to log into NHSN and make sure your facility has an active Facility Administrator. Please note that only the Facility Administrator can enroll a facility in a one or more components in NHSN, reassign the role of Facility Administrator, and manage/negotiate locations that are …

CDC HCP Influenza Vaccination Data for SNFs 2022 – 2023

Skilled Nursing Facilities   Pooled proportion of healthcare personnel reported as vaccinated in Skilled Nursing Facilities reporting to NHSN, by personnel group and state, 2022-2023 influenza season. From https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/datastat/flu-datatables.html

AHRQ Report: Deprescribing To Reduce Medication Harms in Older Adults

Main Points Deprescribing has emerged as a clinical practice to reduce polypharmacy and use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and serve as a mechanism for quality improvement and increased patient safety. The purpose of this rapid response is to summarize recent literature on the use of deprescribing to improve the …

Keys to Competencies in Infection Prevention and Control

Under F-tag 726 (Competent Nursing Staff) in Appendix PP of the State Operations Manual, nursing staff, including registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical or vocational nurses (LPNs/LVNs), and certified nursing assistants (CNAs), must have “the competencies and skill sets necessary to provide nursing and related services to meet the residents’ needs …