SUMMARY OF CMS CALL ON POINT-OF-CARE COVID-19 TESTING FOR NURSING HOMES
On July 14, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced an initiative to distribute point-of-care COVID-19 testing devices to nursing homes across the country. Seema Verma, Administrator of CMS, and Admiral Giroir, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) held a nationwide conference call with nursing homes on July 15 to provide additional information about the rollout. Read more.
DEADLINE EXTENDED: MEDICAID APPLICATION FOR PROVIDER RELIEF FUND IS NOW MONDAY, AUGUST 3
Today, HHS extended the application deadline for the Medicaid tranche of the COVID Provider Relief Fund to Monday, August 3, 2020. The payment to each provider will be approximately two percent of reported gross revenue from patient care, and the final amount each provider receives will be determined after the data is submitted. Read more.
HOW TO AVOID NHSN DATA REPORTING ERRORS
The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) has identified a few hundred nursing centers that are submitting confirmed and suspected COVID-19 data incorrectly. The NHSN team has been conducting telephone outreach to centers identified as submitting incorrect data but reports that it has only had minimal success. Centers that are receiving citations should immediately review the NHSN LTCF COVID-19 data quality webinar to review the commonly identified errors in submission data and follow the data quality slides to check that their information is being submitted correctly. Read more.
NHSN UPDATES RESIDENT IMPACT AND FACILITY CAPACITY PATHWAY INSTRUCTIONS
The instructions on one of the four pathways have been updated to provide clarification on definitions and provides examples in each section of the instructions. Read more.
DOH CONTINUES HOSTING WEEKLY WEBINAR FOR HEALTHCARE WORKERS
The Department of Health (DOH) hosts a weekly call for healthcare workers to provide updated information on COVID-19 response and to answer questions providers may have. You can join the call each Thursday at 11 AM. Next week’s call will be July 23, 2020. Click here to register.
NEW TRAINING AND RESOURCES RELATED TO INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL
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.
