The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began a three-year pilot project to improve the infection control and prevention regulation assessment in nursing homes, hospitals and during the transfer of care.
Here are six key notes:
1. CMS plans to use a national contractor to perform educational pilot surveys.
2. If an immediate jeopardy deficiency is noted, the surveyor will make a referral to the CMS Regional Office, although there won't be any citations issued.
3. Hospitals will receive guidance to improve infection prevention within their catmint area during the survey.
4. The surveyors will address the spread of healthcare-associated infections between facilities and the local community. A team of infection control professionals will use survey findings to develop action plans for improvement and organize the on-site technical assistants.
5. The program's goal is to improve surveyor infection control tools and survey processes to optimize infection control.
6. The program is effective immediately.
