CMS: Lapses in Infection Control, Vaccine Compliance to Garner ‘Aggressive’ Enforcement
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday revoked its 2020 “Enhanced Enforcement for Infection Control Deficiencies” guidance, issued early in the pandemic, and replaced it with revised guidance titled, “Strengthened Enhanced Enforcement for Infection Control Deficiencies.” The agency said its goal was to “target facilities with or at risk for the most significant negative resident health outcomes by taking more aggressive enforcement actions.”
Doubling Rapid COVID Testing Would Have Saved Thousands of Nursing Home Lives: Study
Thousands of lives could have been saved at relatively little cost if nursing home operators had made wider use of rapid COVID-19 tests during the pre-vaccine days of the pandemic, a study published Wednesday found. The study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, used data on more than 90 million nursing home staff COVID tests, partly to determine whether the screening of asymptomatic staff reduced the severity of outbreaks. The answer was an overwhelming yes.
