Federal health officials instituted a rule mandating long-term care facilities report residents’ and staff’s COVID-19 vaccinations every week to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) starting in two weeks.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the vaccination reporting requirement on Tuesday, directing the facilities to report the data to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), a national infection tracking system.
Officials aim to use the information to help track vaccinations in these congregate care settings and determine which might need more resources during the pandemic. At this time, the rule applies to long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, and residential facilities for those with intellectual disabilities.
Vaccination details for specific facilities will be available for the facilities, stakeholders and public to see on CMS’s COVID-19 Nursing Home Data website once the data is collected.
Long-term care facilities already have to report COVID-19 testing, case and death data to the NHSN, but COVID-19 vaccination statistics have not previously been mandated. The requirement for COVID-19 shots reflects previously mandated reporting of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines.
Lee Fleisher, CMS chief medical officer and the director of CMS’s Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, said in a statement that the mandate will help ensure “equitable vaccine access” for Medicare and Medicaid recipients. ...
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