CMS Focused on COVID-19 Vaccination
On Jan. 5th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a National Nursing Home Stakeholder Call dedicated to COVID-19 vaccination and treatment during the winter season.
Nursing homes with low resident vaccination rates may be contacted by IPRO, the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) serving New York, with an offer of technical assistance and support. Providers can also reach out to IPRO (800-852-3685, https://ipro.org) for assistance, educational resources, help with National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) reporting, and answers to vaccination questions.
Dr. Megan Sullivan, chief medical officer for the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), stressed the benefit of antiviral treatments, which are most effective when started early, even if symptoms are mild. She indicated that anyone over the age of 50 or with a high-risk health condition should be counseled on and potentially prescribed COVID-19 treatments as clinically appropriate and suggested that nursing home providers complete COVID-19 Personal Action Plans with residents to identify the type of therapeutic that would be most appropriate based on an individual’s comorbidities and current medications.
Dr. Suzanne Gillespie, president of AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (AMDA-PALTC), spoke about a vaccination and treatment toolkit for clinicians that the association is making publicly available (covered previously in Intelligence and accessible here), while other CMS and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) speakers described the agencies’ educational campaigns and efforts to provide resources and partner with providers to increase vaccination rates.
Once available, the archived version and transcript will be posted on the CMS Open Door Forum Transcripts and Podcasts page.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841