Center for Medicare Advocacy Offers Nursing Home COVID-19 Lessons Learned and Policy Recommendations (2/21)

The Center for Medicare Advocacy released a new report – Geography Is Not Destiny: Protecting Nursing Home Residents from the Next Pandemic – which explores facilities’ responses to the coronavirus crisis and examines how residents’ deaths were not “inevitable”, as some have claimed. The report contends that COVID-19 exploited and exacerbated long-standing …

Emergency Preparedness Report: Identifying and Overcoming Healthcare Communications Vulnerabilities (2/21)

ASPR TRACIE Emergency Preparedness Report: Identifying and Overcoming Healthcare Communications Vulnerabilities: Nashville, TN While the Christmas morning recreational vehicle blast outside the AT&T transmission facility in Nashville did not cause a mass fatality incident, it significantly impacted healthcare communications throughout the region. This article describes the impacts, lessons learned, strengths, and challenges …

Emergency Preparedness: Healthcare Cybersecurity Readiness and Response (2/21)

As part of our nation’s critical infrastructure, healthcare facilities large and small must be proactive and move quickly to protect themselves from cyberattacks that could directly impact the health and safety of patients and the community at large. According to medical health experts experienced in cybersecurity preparedness, cyberattacks are identified …

SNF Healthcare-Associated Infections Requiring Hospitalization for the SNF QRP Technical Report (2/21)

The Improving Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT Act) requires the Secretary to specify resource use measures, on which post-acute care (PAC) providers, including skilled nursing facilities, are required to submit necessary data specified by the Secretary. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has contracted with Acumen, …

SNF Consolidated Billing: COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Treatment (2/21)

·  CMS Takes Further Steps to Ensure Medicare Beneficiaries Have Wide Access to COVID-19 Antibody Treatment ·  COVID-19 Vaccines and Monoclonal Antibody Infusion: Enforcement Discretion Relating to SNF Consolidated Billing Medicare Monoclonal Antibody COVID-19 Infusion Program Instruction (PDF) (2/16/21)

CDC Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of PPE and Other Equipment (12/20)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers strategies for optimizing the supply of: N95 respirators Face masks Isolation gowns Eye Protection Gloves Powered Air-Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) Elastomeric respirators Ventilators https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/index.html Also see: Summary for Healthcare Facilities: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/strategies-optimize-ppe-shortages.html Summary for Healthcare Facilities: Strategies for Optimizing the Supply of N95 Respirators …

AHRQ: Treatments for Acute Pain: A Systematic Review (1/21)

Main Points Opioids are probably less effective than nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for surgical dental pain and kidney stone pain and might be similarly effective to NSAIDs for low back pain. Opioids might be and NSAIDs are probably more effective than acetaminophen for surgical dental pain, but opioids are probably …

Patterns in COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in Long-Term Care Facilities in 2020: Kaiser Family Foundation Review (1/21)

For some regions of the country, recent months have brought the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities since the start of the pandemic, a new KFF analysis of state-reported cases and death shows, underscoring the importance of current efforts to vaccinate this high priority group. A second, related analysis synthesizes the …

CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Toolkit for SNFs/NFs (1/21)

Long-Term Care Facility Toolkit: Preparing for COVID-19 Vaccination at Your Facility Answering Common Questions About COVID-19 Vaccines This toolkit provides long-term care facility (LTCF) administrators and clinical leadership with information and resources to help build vaccine confidence among healthcare personnel (HCP) and residents. You play a critical role in providing …