Sign displaying CDC-recommended airborne precautions everyone must take (Spanish).

Sign displaying CDC-recommended airborne precautions everyone must take.

Legionnaires’ disease is a severe type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, typically spread through inhaling water droplets from contaminated sources like hot tubs, cooling towers, and complex water systems. Symptoms include cough, muscle aches, fever, shortness of breath, and headache, and the disease can be treated with antibiotics, though it is fatal in about 10% of cases. Certain individuals, particularly those over 50 or with weakened immune systems, are at higher risk for infection.

This ICAR form guides observations on water exposure risks in acute care, long-term care, and outpatient healthcare facilities, excluding hemodialysis settings. Separate resources are available for hemodialysis facility assessments.

ICAR Module 11 assesses infection risks from water exposures and related policies in healthcare facilities, excluding hemodialysis settings.

ICAR tools help healthcare facilities assess and improve infection prevention practices, with modules for acute care, long-term care, and outpatient settings. Not for use in outpatient hemodialysis; separate tools available.

Fall 2023: CDC advises one dose of updated Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine for all Americans 6 months and older against XBB.1.5. Novavax available for others. See FDA's 2023-2024 COVID-19 Vaccines Announcement for details.

Enhanced Barrier Precautions (EBP) Steps

Protect nursing home residents from evolving health threats like MDROs with Enhanced Barrier Precautions (EBP) to stop the spread of germs.

As the landscape of healthcare delivery changes, antibiotic stewardship guidance is evolving to support stewardship implementation, and ensure appropriate treatment of infections for all patients across the healthcare spectrum.

The Dietary Guidelines is designed for professionals to help all individuals ages 2 years and older and their families consume a healthy, nutritionally adequate diet. The information in the Dietary Guidelines is used in developing Federal food, nutrition, and health policies and programs.

This new Knowledge on Demand platform offers awareness trainings on these five cybersecurity topics: social engineering, ransomware, loss or theft of equipment or data, insider accidental or malicious data loss, and attacks against network connected medical devices.

A decision support tool assists prescribers in choosing treatment for common infections in nursing home residents. By selecting the infection type and answering questions, users are informed if minimum antibiotic criteria are met (green checkmark) or suggested alternative actions (red "X").

This page outlines strategies for overdose prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery.

Semiannual Report to Congress summarizing the activities of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG), for the 6-month period ending on March 31, 2023.

AHRQ’s SHARE Approach is a five-step process for shared decision making that includes exploring and comparing the benefits, harms, and risks of each option through meaningful dialogue about what matters most to the patient.

CLAS is a way to improve the quality of services provided to all individuals, which will ultimately help reduce health disparities and achieve health equity. CLAS is about respect and responsiveness: Respect the whole individual and Respond to the individual’s health needs and preferences.

This publication summarizes AHRQ’s investments in this promising pathway toward better care, including examples of project findings and products, collective outputs, and impacts of this work. 

This Patient Safety Chartbook is part of a family of documents and tools that support the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report (NHQDR). The NHQDR is an annual report to Congress mandated in the Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-129

Building relationships with external partners that reflect the lived experience of individuals served by your organization can help you understand how best to meet those individuals’ needs and ultimately end disparities. Thoughtful outreach, feedback mechanisms, and engagement are foundational to building long-term, reciprocal relationships with diverse communities

The document is about revisions to the State Operations Manual (SOM) Appendix Z - Emergency Preparedness.  This Transmittal includes revisions based on recent federal regulation changes via (CMS–3346–F) and is a follow up to memo QSO 20-07 released on December 20, 2019.  In addition to updates on the interpretive guidelines, this update also provides additional guidance on emerging infectious diseases.  We are making changes to Appendix Z to reflect lessons learned and additional guidance related to pandemic preparedness as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.  

CMS launched the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model on July 31, 2023, a voluntary initiative to aid individuals with dementia and their caregivers. Letters of interest are accepted until September 15, 2023, with a full Request for Applications (RFA) expected in Fall 2023. The model begins on July 1, 2024, spanning eight years.

The CMS Innovation Center held a virtual listening session as part of our continuing partnership with patients.

The How to Upload an Assessment for MDS Users training video provides steps for uploading MDS assessments to iQIES.

Effective with the July 2023 refresh, CMS revised the nursing-home level exclusion criteria on erroneously high number of administrators applied to the administrator turnover measure.

The CMS Framework for Health Equity provides a strong foundation for our work as a leader and trusted partner dedicated to advancing health equity, expanding coverage, and improving health outcomes. This includes strengthening our infrastructure for assessment, creating synergies across the health care system to drive structural change, and identifying and working together to eliminate barriers to CMS-supported benefits, services, and coverage for individuals and communities who are underserved or disadvantaged and those who support them.

This document contains the answers to frequently asked questions about The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program (QRP

This document outlines the program audit process for 2022. CMS will send engagement letters to initiate routine audits beginning February 2022 through July 2022. Engagement letters for ad hoc audits may be sent at any time throughout the year. The program areas for the 2022 audits include: CDAG-Part D Coverage Determinations, Appeals, and Grievances; CPE: Medicare Part C and Part D Compliance Program Effectiveness; FA--Part D Formulary and Benefit Administration; MMP-SARAG--Medicare-Medicaid Plan Service Authorization Requests, Appeals, and Grievances; MMPCC--Medicare-Medicaid Plan Care Coordination; ODAG--Part C Organization Determinations, Appeals, and Grievances; SNP-CC--Special Needs Plans – Care Coordination

This QIF provides resources that may aid LTC providers in recognizing potential medication error deficiency citations and developing a Plan of Correction.

This QIF provides resources that may aid LTC providers in recognizing potential prevention of pressure ulcer deficiency citations and developing a Plan of Correction.

Pain can have negative effects leading to prolonged hospital stays. Determining the presence of uncontrolled and untreated pain in patients with cognitive impairments such as delirium, dementia, and delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD) is challenging. One tool commonly suggested for use in assessment of pain in older adults with cognitive impairment is the Pain Assessment In Advanced Dementia (PAINAD) scale. Proper use of the PAINAD scale as part of a comprehensive pain management plan can help reduce the likelihood of a patient experiencing unrecognized and untreated pain. Using an individual example, this article illustrates best practices in pain assessment and management for a woman experiencing DSD during an acute hospitalization.

This report highlights factors that drive the health and well-being of older adults, such as economic conditions, social connectedness and access to health care. 

The U.S. population is aging and becoming more diverse. As of 2020, 1 in 6 Americans is 65 or older, with significant increases in diversity among older adults. Health systems often struggle with the complexity of aging care, leading to disproportionate harm, especially in marginalized communities. In response, the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in partnership with the AHA and CHA, launched an initiative in 2017 to promote age-friendly care.

The Infection and Antibiotic (ABX) Tracking Forms, developed by IPRO Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO), is a tool that calculates, summarizes, and graphs data on infections and antibiotic use. It tracks antibiotic prescribing patterns, days of therapy, prophylaxis use, and infection rates, providing data for both entire facilities and specific units.

Cyber threats impacting HPH operations, cyber incident response (IR) planning, recommendations and best practices, and resources.

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain condition impacting memory, cognitive function, and behavior, making it the most common cause of dementia. Affecting over six million Americans, it is believed to result from an abnormal buildup of proteins forming plaques around brain cells and tangles within them.

Patient care is provided in facilities which range from highly equipped clinics and technologically advanced university hospitals to front-line units with only basic facilities. Despite progress in public health and hospital care, infections continue to develop in hospitalized patients, and may also affect hospital staff. Many factors promote infection among hospitalized patients: decreased immunity among patients; the increasing variety of medical procedures and invasive techniques creating potential routes of infection; and the transmission of drug-resistant bacteria among crowded hospital populations, where poor infection control practices may facilitate transmission.

On September 30, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published two final rules with certain provisions effective November 29, 2019. The first rule was the Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Regulatory Provisions to Promote Program Efficiency, Transparency, and Burden Reduction (CoPs) (CMS 3346-F) (referenced to as the Burden Reduction Final Rule 84 FR 51732) which revised requirements all providers and suppliers for Emergency Preparedness. The guidance within the SOM Appendix Z has now been updated to reflect the revisions made within this Final Rule. Additionally, in February 2019, CMS added “emerging infectious diseases” to the definition of all-hazards approach in Appendix Z as CMS determined it was critical for facilities to include planning for infectious diseases within their emergency preparedness program. In light of events such as the Ebola Virus and Zika, we believe that facilities should consider preparedness and infection prevention within their all-hazards approach, which covers both natural and man-made disasters.

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) commissioned a systematic review on the effectiveness of aspirin to reduce the risk of CVD events (myocardial infarction and stroke), cardiovascular mortality, and all-cause mortality in persons without a history of CVD. 

CMS - This document will identify revisions made to documents and files that are related to the LTC Survey Process. The revisions will be grouped by effective date.

The "Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents" from CMS describes an effort by the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office to improve care quality for long-term care facility residents. It aimed to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, which are costly and disruptive. The initiative included clinical and educational interventions, with a focus on evidence-based practices and payment reforms. It involved partnerships with long-term care facilities to enhance care and coordination, ultimately reducing hospital admissions and improving resident outcomes.