Nursing homes across the U.S. are frequently cited with ‘immediate jeopardy’ by CMS for conditions that are found to be detrimental to resident and patient safety — putting them at risk for loss of government funding. A separate report also found that these facilities often also suffer from staff shortages.
“The lack of infection prevention and control staffing, infrastructure and surveillance in nursing homes is astounding, and the time for change is long overdue. How many more seniors must die before we act?” Devin Jopp, EdD, CEO of APIC said in a statement. “We urge the Biden Administration and Congress to ensure that residents of these facilities receive at least the level of protection from deadly infections as they would in the hospital.”
The organization urged Congress to take the following actions to address safety issues that continue to be seen in U.S. nursing facilities:
- Requiring that each facility employ one infection-prevention specialist.
- Updating CMS surveyors’ training to include more in-depth knowledge about identifying infections as well as proper prevent and control measures.
- Create a database system for nursing facilities to track and report their version of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).
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