News

NHSN Revises Definition of “Up To Date” for COVID-19 Vaccination

On March 21, 2024 by Kari Everson

The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) revised its definition of "up to date" for COVID-19 vaccine reporting in long-term care (LTC) facilities.

NHSN Quality Alert Errors

On September 28, 2023 by Kari Everson

The National Health and Safety Network (NHSN) appears to be generating inaccurate quality alerts for the Weekly COVID-19 Vaccination Module for long-term care facility residents.

COVID-19/Flu Tests Coming Soon to SNFs Throughout the State

On December 22, 2022 by Kari Everson

The Minnesota Department of Health is mailing a combination of COVID-19/Flu A&B rapid test kits to all skilled nursing facilities in the state. Kits should be arriving in the next 2-3 weeks.

Summary Resource for Assisted Living and Nursing Home Infection Reporting

On December 22, 2022 by Kari Everson

LeadingAge Minnesota has developed a new resource for members to help clarify the complex and often confusing infectious illness reporting requirements for our nursing home and assisted living members.

NHSN to Update Vaccine Parameters for Up-to-Date

On September 28, 2022 by Kari Everson

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated vaccine recommendations and included bivalent vaccines recently made available. They also revised the definition of up-to-date.

CDC to Streamline Some NHSN Reporting

On May 5, 2022 by Jonathan Lips

In a recent national stakeholder call, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) previewed changes coming to the COVID-19 Long-Term Care Facility module and vaccination reporting module in NHSN. Beginning May 23, reporting in both modules will be streamlined to simplify some reporting.

NHSN to Offer Webinar for Nursing Homes on Vaccination Data Tracking Worksheets

On March 24, 2022 by Jonathan Lips

The NHSN Vaccination Team is providing two webinars on Tuesday, March 29, and Thursday, March 31, at 1 pm to review new “Event-Level COVID-19 Vaccination Forms.”  These are currently called the Data Tracking Worksheets that are available to facilities in an Excel spreadsheet format. This worksheet has now been built into the NHSN application for long-term care facilities to manage person-level vaccination data.

Upcoming Changes to Reporting Negative Antigen Results

On March 24, 2022 by Kari Everson

The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) updated the reporting requirements for COVID-19 point of care (POC) tests. The update to section 18115 of the Cares Act changes the facility’s reporting requirements for negative point of care (POC) test results.

NHSN Changes Coming: Get your Level 3 Access Now

On September 15, 2021 by Jonathan Lips

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has informed LeadingAge that changes are coming to the weekly NHSN COVID-19 Vaccination Data Collection Forms for Long-Term Care Facilities that will require Level 3 access for reporting.

LeadingAge National Advocates for Members on CMS Vaccination Rule

On July 14, 2021 by Jonathan Lips

On behalf of members across the country, the LeadingAge national team has submitted comments to CMS on the recently-issued rule requiring nursing homes to offer COVID-19 vaccine to residents and staff, to educate residents and staff regarding the benefits and potential side effects of the vaccine, and to report COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics treatment information to NSHN.

CMS Enforcement of Vaccination Reporting Begins June 14

On June 9, 2021 by Jonathan Lips

Beginning Monday, June 14, CMS will issue citations and mandatory fines to nursing homes that have not submitted the required vaccination-related data to CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network.

NHSN Training Opportunities for Care Centers

On February 17, 2021 by Jonathan Lips

The CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) team will offer trainings to review updates to the LTCF COVID-19 Module, Resident Impact & Facility Capacity Pathway, that took effect in late November 2020.

NHSN Updates for Care Centers

On February 10, 2021 by Jonathan Lips

We noted two newsworthy items from CDC this week relating to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) data collection system.

Monoclonal Antibodies
CDC has added data fields for monoclonal antibodies to the NHSN COVID-19 surveillance module.

Update on Reporting Point of Care Antigen Test Results

On January 13, 2021 by Jonathan Lips

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has granted certified nursing facilities more flexibility in terms of where facilities submit the results of point-of-care antigen tests.  We expect the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to update its “Reporting Results of COVID-19 Tests” guidance today, to reflect this change.

NHSN Enables Reporting of COVID Test Results: Providers Must Continue Reporting Directly to the State

On October 21, 2020 by Jonathan Lips

Effective last Friday, Oct. 16, the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) enables nursing facilities and assisted living providers to report COVID-19 point-of-care test results to the NHSN system. 

CDC Will Update NHSN to Accept Laboratory Test Results

On September 30, 2020 by Jonathan Lips

Since early May care centers have been using the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) to report COVID-19 cases and related data to the CDC.

Round-Up: National Healthcare Safety Network Reporting

On June 17, 2020 by Jonathan Lips

As we enter the fifth week of nursing homes reporting to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), we thought it would be worthwhile to highlight some of the information we’ve shared with members through our daily updates over the past couple of weeks.