Stay Aware and Prepared During the 2020 Flu Season!
It's flu season. Now more than ever it is important to be vaccinated against communicable diseases. The Network offers supplemental resources in the promotion of flu vaccinations for your staff and patients.
Influenza Vaccination Formulation Guidance

The three formulations shared below have been shown to cause higher immune responses and give significantly better protection to the elderly and to immunocompromised patients who are less than 65 years old (such as ESRD patients). Review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) education by following the links below.

Fight the Flu Challenge
Join the Network's Fight the Flu challenge by submitting up to five photos of your clinic’s Influenza Vaccination patient education bulletin board or display. Submissions will be reviewed by the Patient Advisory Council (PAC) members for Qsource ESRD Networks. These members are ESRD patient volunteers working with the Network to improve the quality of dialysis care for all ESRD patients. The PAC will be looking for creatively displayed Influenza awareness and will select the top three displays among those that were submitted by the deadline. The “winning” Flu Vaccine display boards will be issued prizes and highlighted on our social media platforms!
To join the challenge, use the link below to provide your clinic’s contact information and a title or description of the display.
 
Deadline: Friday, Nov. 6 
Please share your display board only and do not include photos of any patients or staff (for their privacy and protection). 
Telligen Provider Conversation Flowchart
This helpful two-sided chart discusses influenza and pneumococcal separately to address the unique challenges of each vaccination. The flow chart can help save busy providers time by providing an easy-to-follow outline to discuss hesitancy.
CDC’s Flu Factsheets in Multiple Languages
These four seasonal flu documents are designed to improve knowledge of seasonal flu. All four documents are tailored for low literacy populations by using minimal text and using visual cues to portray seasonal flu information.
Healthcare Provider Fight Flu Toolkit
What You Need to Know for the 2020-2021
Flu Season
This all-inclusive toolkit developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides resources for Healthcare Providers to equip themselves and patients with the information and protective measures to avoid serious complications associated with the Flu virus. 
National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)
NHSN now offers a new feature to track weekly influenza vaccination for healthcare personnel (HCP) beginning with the 2020-2021 influenza season. Weekly reporting of HCP influenza vaccination data is optional at this time. Reporting vaccination data weekly allows facilities to monitor the level of influenza vaccination coverage among their HCP in a timely way and take action during the influenza season to increase vaccination uptake, if needed. 

Reporting forms and training materials will soon be posted on the NHSN website under the Surveillance for Healthcare Personnel Vaccination page for each facility type.
Additional Resources
Print your own I Got My Flu Vaccine stickers from the CDC! These printable PDF stickers are a simple token of appreciation for healthcare staff and patients for being vaccinated to protect themselves and their community against Influenza. 

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases created a helpful Infographic Poster detailing statistics and helpful graphics to create awareness of common Perceptions on Influenza, Pneumococcal Disease, and COVID-19.
Register for EQRS New User Training
Join CMS and the ESRD Outreach, Communication, and Training (EOCT) Team for new user training on Nov. 4 at 11 a.m. CT.

On Nov. 9, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will incorporate the roles and functionality of its legacy CROWNWeb system into the agency’s End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Quality Reporting System (EQRS). This rollout will introduce new steps users must follow to submit facilities’ administrative and patients’ treatment-related data directly to CMS.

Attendees will learn how to use EQRS to complete the following:

  • Add Personnel
  • Set Facility Default Preferences
  • Admit New Patients
  • Submit CMS Forms
  • Enter Clinical Information
  • Discharge a Patient
  • And More
This newsletter was prepared and distributed by Qsource ESRD Networks under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (contract number HHSM-500-2016-00010C and HHSM-500-2016-00012C). The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. 20.Q-ESRD.09.1a
ESRD Network 10 | 317-257-8265 | Patient Line: 800-456-6919 | Website
ESRD Network 12 | 816-880-9990 | Patient Line: 800-444-9965 | Website