Last week, CMS posted county positivity rates dated October 13, 2020. CMS has just posted updated county positivity rates dated October 19, 2020 that reflect data from October 1-October 14. This updated posting is found here.
Point of care laboratory reporting pathway in NHSN
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is releasing a new pathway through their National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) LTCF COVID-19 Module that will allow providers to report the results of their Point of Care (POC) COVID-19 testing. Providers who are performing POC COVID-19 testing under their CLIA waiver are required to report … Read More
CMS survey data illustrates impact of COVID-19 on Medicare beneficiaries’ daily life/experiences
CMS released data last week showing that 21% of Medicare beneficiaries report forgoing non-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) care due to the pandemic, and nearly all – 98% – of beneficiaries have taken preventative measures to keep themselves safe from the virus. According to the survey, the most common type of … Read More
Supporting COVID-19 testing
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), recently announced that we will begin providing nursing homes with a Point of Care (POC) rapid response testing instrument to bolster each facility’s ability to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The data collected through the NHSN system directly … Read More
More info on pharmacy partnership program for LTC
Late in the day Friday, October 16, 2020, I quickly blogged on this newly announced program. Registration for this program begins today and runs for 2 weeks. This program will provide the COVID-19 vaccine (when it’s available) to nursing home residents as well as those individuals residing in assisted living and independent … Read More