CMS Will Use Resident Acuity to Target Weekend Surveys for Nursing Homes With Potential Staffing Problems, and Other Staffing News From the OIG (3/21)

CMS Use of Data on Nursing Home Staffing: Progress and Opportunities To Do More (OEI-04-18-00451) The OIG has made four key recommendations related to staffing that CMS concurred with. These recommendations state that CMS should: Provide data to consumers on nurse staff turnover and tenure, as required by Federal law To …

Updated Healthcare Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations in Response to COVID-19 Vaccination (3/21)

Updated Mar. 10, 2021 Find the most recent update here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/infection-control-after-vaccination.html CDC guidance for SARS-CoV-2 infection may be adapted by state and local health departments to respond to rapidly changing local circumstances. On this page Visitation Work restriction for asymptomatic healthcare personnel and quarantine for asymptomatic patients and residents SARS-CoV-2 Testing …

Staffing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Guide for Nursing Home Leaders (2/21)

A resource guide, written by and for directors of nursing, administrators, and other nursing home leaders, outlines steps to reduce or eliminate urgent staff shortages, particularly shortages of direct care workers. This guide is from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and Project ECHO, a project of the Agency for Healthcare …

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 …

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: 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, …

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 …

CMS QSO Memo: Enhanced Enforcement Actions Based on Nursing Home COVID-19 Data and Inspection Results (2/21)

DATE: June 1, 2020 REVISED 01/04/2021 TO: State Survey Agency Directors FROM: Director Quality, Safety & Oversight Group SUBJECT: Revised COVID-19 Survey Activities, CARES Act Funding, Enhanced Enforcement for Infection Control deficiencies, and Quality Improvement Activities in Nursing Homes CMS is committed to taking critical steps to protect vulnerable Americans …

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 …