Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has just posted COVID-19 data from week ending June 20, 2021. Facilities with 75% or more completed vaccinations for staff as of July 1, 2021 are listed here.  Each individual facility’s resident and staff vaccination rate is available in the downloadable data set at the bottom of…… Continue reading Latest COVID-19 Data from CMS, CDC and NHSN

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On June 30, 2021, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) announced its support for hospitals and health systems that are requiring all employees and clinical team members to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. “APIC applauds healthcare organizations for…… Continue reading APIC Supports Growing Number of Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccine Policies in Healthcare Facilities

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a compliance directive designed to ensure uniform inspection and enforcement procedures for its Emergency Temporary Standard to protect healthcare workers from occupational exposures to COVID-19. The new directive provides OSHA compliance safety and health officers with…… Continue reading OSHA Issues Compliance Directive for Enforcing Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect HC Workers from Coronavirus

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CDC has recently launched a National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Nursing Home COVID-19 Vaccination Data Dashboard. This webpage displays data at the national and state level on COVID-19 vaccination coverage among residents and staff of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-certified nursing homes. The dashboard…… Continue reading Nursing Home COVID-19 Vaccination Data Dashboard

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted county positivity rates as of June 28, 2021. You can access CMS’ regulations and guidelines about testing based on county positivity here.  Archived data is found here.   

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has posted the latest nursing home COVID-19 data for week ending June 13, 2021. Facilities with 75% or more completed vaccinations for staff as of June 24, 2021 are identified here.  (This Excel spreadsheet is dated June 24, 2021, however once in that spreadsheet, it…… Continue reading Latest CMS, CDC & NHSN Data Available

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The title of this blog is the same as the OIG Report (OEI-02-20-00490) posted on June 22, 2021. WHY (OIG) DID THIS STUDY Nursing home residents have been particularly affected by COVID-19, as they are predominately elderly, tend to have underlying conditions, and live in close…… Continue reading COVID-19 Had a Devastating Impact on Medicare Beneficiaries in Nursing Homes During 2020

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare How Immunity Generated from COVID-19 Vaccines Differs from an Infection is an interesting read. I encourage you to take a few minutes to read the entire blog. This blog was posted June 22, 2021 by Dr. Francis Collins, Director of NIH (National Institutes of Health). “A…… Continue reading How Immunity Generated from COVID-19 Vaccines Differs from an Infection

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS has updated the Toolkit on State Actions to Mitigate COVID-19 Prevalence in Nursing Homes.  This is Version 23. Here’s a reminder of what’s included in the Toolkit: AHRQ’s new Nursing Home Vaccine Administration Records for Staff and Residents help users collect, record and file necessary…… Continue reading Recent CMS and AHRQ Updates to COVID-19 Information

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare CMS posted the county positivity rates as of June 21, 2021. Reminder: Regulations/guidelines regarding testing in nursing homes based on county positivity rates are found here; archived data found here