The NHSN team will introduce and provide training for a new NHSN Long-term Care Facility COVID-19 Pathway laboratory data reporting option. The October 22nd training will be live and allow for submission of audience questions. The October 23rd training will be a rebroadcast of the recorded training followed by a live Q & A session. A recording of the original …
There has been a lot of discussion regarding whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be spread through indirect contact on environmental surfaces. Although the debate continues, a recent study was published that indicates there may be more to this than some may think. Two Chinese students studying overseas returned to China on March 19 and March 20. On the day of …
White House Announces Vaccination Distribution Program for LTC Residents Today, the White House announced the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program–a national vaccine distribution program for long term care residents. The COVID-19 vaccine will likely become available in phases over the coming months. To prepare, the federal government has partnered with CVS and Walgreens to distribute and administer the vaccine …
Facility-wide, serial testing in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) can identify asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections among health care personnel (HCP) and residents to inform mitigation efforts. A recent report published on the CDC.gov website provided additional information on this topic when two Minnesota SNFs identified COVID-19 cases among 64% of residents and 33% of HCP. Genetic sequencing found facility-specific clustering of viral …
On September 23, 2020, the Senate Financial Committee released a Majority Staff Report titled, COVID-19 In Nursing Homes: What Went Wrong and Next Steps. The introduction summarizes the report as follows: “This report discusses the findings of the majority staff of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, following a review of nursing home performance during the first eight months …
MLN Connects Thursday, October 15, 2020 On October 14, CMS expanded the list of telehealth services that Medicare Fee-for-Service will pay for during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). CMS is also providing additional support to state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies in their efforts to expand access to telehealth. The actions reinforce President Trump’s Executive Order …
New CDC Guidance On October 5, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted new information on how COVID-19 spreads. This most recent information was posted in an effort to address recent controversy on whether COVIDf-19 can have airborne transmission and what implications this may have on indoor ventilation including isolation rooms: “There is evidence that under certain …
The ability of SARS-CoV-2 to spread rapidly among residents and staff in congregate settings poses a major infection control challenge. In a study conducted in 9 long-term care facilities in Pasadena, California in April 2020, the findings demonstrated a high proportion of asymptomatic infection, even within moderately affected facilities, and support the use of mass testing-based strategies in concert with …
For one week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped issuing new health information related to the novel coronavirus after altering the procedure by which that information was being shared with the American people, sources with direct knowledge of the change told ABC news. The type of information that has been withheld has previously been vital to hospitals, health …
Contrary to early predictions, a recent study confirmed that CMS Star Rating is not an accurate predictor of whether a center will experience a COVID-19 outbreak. The recent study conducted at Harvard University identified that even though there was no evidence that star rating had a significant effect on facility outbreaks, a concerning finding was that facilities that employ staff …
