CMS wants hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare providers, “especially those delivering care in congregate care settings,” to protect patients against the transmission of COVID-19 and influenza.
The United States would have averted 266,700 deaths during the Delta and Omicron spikes of the COVID-19 pandemic if the excess all-cause mortality rate nationally matched that of the 10-most vaccinated states, ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on healthcare, and its burden on the medical system and healthcare workers (HCW) has led to negative patient safety consequences. Numerous publications have detailed how the pandemic has alarmingly eroded our decade of former progress in reducing...
CMS has combined three earlier Quality, Safety & Oversight Group (QSO) memos on required COVID-19 vaccinations into a single memo, with revisions to note how surveyors should cite noncompliance.
Take time to consult with your organization’s staff before reverting to pre-pandemic practices and procedures. Some things might not need to change. Some things might need to change quickly. And some might need to change as slowly as possible.
Contaminated hands are a primary vehicle in transmitting germs and viruses, which means hand hygiene remains imperative to protect patients, staff, and visitors. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand hygiene is one of the most effective tools to mitigate the impact of...
Now that COVID-19 has reached an endemic phase, one of the biggest challenges facing healthcare organizations is keeping communities focused on containing the virus, says Janet Tomcavage, MS, executive vice president and chief nurse executive at ...
If your organization has not already done so, start drawing down now from using compliance waivers granted under the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) declaration. On October 13, the PHE was renewed for another 90 days but it remains uncertain if it will be renewed again.
The new studies examine boarding of patients in emergency departments before they are moved to inpatient beds and patients who left without being seen (LWBS), the latter presumably because of ED crowding and long wait times.
