COVID-19 UPDATE #189
September 20, 2021
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NHSN UPDATES FOR SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES |
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The NHSN release of changes occurred September 18, 2021. The areas impacted are as follows:
- Resident Impact and Facility Capacity Pathway
- Weekly Vaccination for Residents and Staff
- POC Test Reporting Tool
- Skilled Nursing Facilities must have Level 3 access!
Get your Level 3 access now (SAMS grid card) as it will be required for the week ending October 3, 2021. The Increasing LTCF SAMS Level Access to NHSN | NHSN | CDC resource is available for guidance. As well, there are some upcoming webinars to help skilled nursing professionals. See a list of upcoming webinars below:
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2021 Changes to the Weekly NHSN COVID-19 Vaccination Data Collection Forms for LTCF | Thursday, September 23, 2021 | 11 AM – 12 PM PST | Register Here
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2021 Changes to the Weekly NHSN COVID-19 Vaccination Data Collection Forms for LTCF | Wednesday, September 29, 2021 | 10:00 – 11 AM PST | Register Here
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DEPARTMENT (INEXPLICABLY) REMINDS PROVIDERS OF SOME PROVISIONS OF HB 1218 |
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Early last legislative session the Long Term Care Ombuds proposed legislation that met with great resistance from WHCA. After a great deal of political wrangling, WHCA and the Ombuds agreed on compromised provisions that eventually were passed by the Legislature as HB 1281. The legislation was signed by the Governor on May 3, 2021--over four months ago. Throughout the legislative session and since being signed into law, WHCA has continued to remind its members about the provisions of HB 1218.
On Friday afternoon, September 3, 2021, for some inexplicable reason, Residential Care Services chose to issue a Dear Provider Letter addressing some, but not all, provisions of HB 1218. Notably, RCS, in at least one instance, got its information very wrong. WHCA immediately informed the Department that it was providing inaccurate information to members.
On September 17, 2021, the Department issued an Amended Dear Provider Letter correcting the mistakes recounted in the original letter. The amended letter provides the following correct information:
- With respect to Resident Rosters, the facility must:
- Create and maintain a current Resident Roster that includes each resident’s name and room number.
- Immediately provide a written copy of the Resident Roster to any long-term care ombuds after an in-person request.
- With respect to Aggregated Contact Information, the facility must:
- Create a current and accurate Aggregated Contact Information document for each resident and their resident representative, if any.
- Aggregated Contact Information document must include:
- Resident’s name (required),
- Room number (required),
- Phone number (required if available),
- Email address (required if available), and,
- Resident Representative’s name (required), relationship to resident (required), phone number (required), email address (required if available), and mailing address (required if available).
- Regularly maintain the Aggregated Contact Information document by recording and updating it upon receipt of new or updated information from resident or resident representative.
- Provide a copy of the Aggregated Contact Information document to any long-term care ombuds who requests it in writing, within 48 hours, or a reasonable time if agreed to by requesting long-term care ombuds. The copy must be in electronic format and sent to the secure email address or facsimile number included in the request.
- With respect to Communication, the facility must:
- Be responsive to incoming communications and respond within a reasonable time to phone and electronic messages.
- Have a communication system with enough working telephones and other communications equipment to ensure that residents have 24-hour access to communications with family, medical providers, and others, and to allow for emergency contact to and from facility staff.
- Have a communication system that provides for auditory privacy, is not located in a staff office or station, is accessible and usable by persons with hearing loss and other disabilities and does not require payment for local calls.
- With respect to Essential Support Persons (ESPs) the facility must:
- Allow residents access to an ESP even in circumstances when limitations must be placed on visitation due to public health emergency or other threat to the health and safety of residents and staff.
- Develop and implement reasonable conditions on access by the ESP tailored to protecting the health and safety of the ESP, residents, and staff based upon the particular public health emergency or other health or safety threat.
- Allow private, in-person access to the resident by the ESP in the resident’s room. For shared rooms, the roommate (or representative) must consent to the ESP’s visit.
- Designate a substitute location in the facility for the visit if the visit cannot be conducted safely in resident’s room, or the resident’s roommate (or representative) does not consent.
- Note: A facility may temporarily suspend a person’s ESP designation, if the person does not comply with health and safety conditions established by the long term care facility or adult family home.
- With respect to “resident representatives,” facilities are reminded that the term “resident representative" no longer means a person able to provide informed consent for a person. Now the term “Resident Representative” means:
- A court-appointed guardian or conservator of the resident,
- An individual authorized under state or federal law to act on behalf of the resident to support the resident in decision-making, to access medical, social, or other personal information, to manage financial matters, or receive notification, or
- If there is no person available under the first two options, an individual chosen by the resident to act on behalf of the resident to support the resident in decision-making, to access to medical, social, or other personal information, to manage financial matters, or to receive notifications.
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PPE STOCKPILE ENDS OCTOBER 25 |
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All healthcare and long term care facilities are encouraged to order gloves, gowns, masks, respirators, and other supplies from the PPE Stockpile as soon as possible. Access to this resource will end on October 25, 2021. Each facility is eligible to order up to a 90-day supply. To access this resource, contact your local Emergency Management Agency. You can find contact information for your EMA here.
DOH Guidance Updates:
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PROJECT FIRSTLINE PODCAST | NEW EPISODE NOW AVAILABLE |
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Learn about infection prevention and have some fun with the Project Firstline Podcast. The newest episode on MDROs was recently released. You can find all episodes on the Project Firstline DOH Soundcloud. |
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DOH OFFERS DE-ESCALATION TRAINING AVAILABLE FOR STAFF |
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Access this training resource offered by the Department of Health (DOH) to help staff manage difficult encounters with visitors, or other situations they may experience in their work. The DOH Behavioral Health Strike Team can provide de-escalation trainings for any organization – a great resource for hands-on training during these continued challenging times. Contact Terri Veazey via email at terri.veazey@doh.wa.gov to schedule a training.
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GOVERNMENT AGENCY RESOURCES TO ASSIST WITH GOVERNOR'S VACCINE MANDATE |
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WHCA continues to post resources and information as it becomes available on our website. If you have questions or need additional information, please call the WHCA office at (800) 562-6170.
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