CMS Hospital Infection Control Worksheet 2021

Working in a healthcare setting requires not just patience, but also sheer vigilance and a set of laser eyes that absorb all the updates especially the ones done by CMS. CMS hospital infection control worksheet 2021 is one such important update that you must consider. You don’t want to receive involuntary termination letters for being a deficiency, nor do you?

CMS has been issuing a statement of deficiency and plan of correction lately and this can prove a nightmare for any hospital.

But before we get started with CMS hospital infection control worksheet 2021, you must know how to keep up with frequent changes?

• Current CoP manual: Check that you have a current CoP manual, for the hospital the manual is 500 pages long while for the acute hospitals it is 300 pages long. The last updates to the manual were made in 2020.
• Check survey and certification website regularly: Another way to keep yourself self-updated is to check the survey and certification website every month. It is here you will find information related to a pandemic, COVID, measures as well as the decision of CMS and TJC to resume surveys.
• Check out the transmittal page: The transmittal page in the manual is very important for it has all the information- what has been revised, what has been deleted, what has been added. You will get plenty of information from there.
• Share responsibility: Keep a couple of persons in your facility responsible for keeping a close watch on the CMS website and federal register for regular updates.

Well, CMS has made changes to the Appendix manual with deletions of Appendix AA and Appendix W being denoted for Critical Access Hospital. CMS has also brought changes to important memos and some of which center around COVID and resumptions of surveys- there have been many additions.

The memo associated with ERCPs deals with the outbreak that they had lead to severe illness and sometimes death. The clearing of ECRPs is an example of infection control and long-term care.

Meanwhile, the survey memos related to IC include the date, things that it covers, and who it has come from. While IP training by CDC is an awesome resource that is free and has 23 modules including water management, linen management, TB prevention, infection surveillance, infection safety, infection control plan, point of care testing, and much more.

Not just this CDC has also made updates to Infection Control in HC Personal in 2019 that now includes 8 elements in Occupational Health Services that in turn are inclusive of sufficient resources on immunization programs, organizational culture, and more.

Talking about Infection Control Updates associated with COVID-19, the memos include 1135 waivers that you must keep in mind. 1135wiavers have been issued to assist hospitals, as well as other facilities, focus on infection control. Again the waivers for LTC facilities require placements of Alcohol-based hand rubs but still, you must access restrictions.

You must provide information to the patients with complete information such that of facility policies, wearing masks, checking temperatures, inquiring about the history of fever, whether they have come in contact with suspected persons, as well as their travel history to international places of level 3 countries.

CDC infection control for professionals includes changes sections associated with PPE- that includes eye protection, face masks, ventilators, and more. There is a separate section on infection control guidelines on hand hygiene that you go through.

CDC has also included Infection Control Recommendations for patients with COVID-19 with a focus on hand hygiene, canceling elective procedures in patients with COVID-19, isolating symptomatic patients in private rooms with doors closed and private bathrooms, and more.

CMS hospital worksheet 2021 includes many other changes to the infection control standards that went into effect on November 29, 2019. CAHs have 25 new tag numbers in infection control. This includes a requirement to have an antibiotic stewardship program. Besides the memos that we have talked about in the article above, CMS has also published ISMP IV guidelines and safe injection practice issues that you must know.

Hospitals must follow nationally recognized infection control standards. There are some new policies required. Many additional changes will be discussed. The other updates include CDC vaccine storage and handling toolkit as well as CDC procedures for disinfecting reusable medical devices.

Now that you are well acquainted with the latest updates and what CMS worksheets lately, what are you waiting for? Gear up for the changes at once and stay compliant.

Also, would you like us to pour in with an awesome webinar by the equally amazing speaker – Laura A Dixon? Click on the link below and register for the webinar:

CMS Hospital Infection Control Worksheet Antibiotic Stewardship Program 2021 | Conference Panel