ALR IDR Committee Meeting Today 1.25.24

 

To: ALR providers   From: HFEMSD     The ALR IDR Committee will meet on 01/25/24 at 10:00 a.m. This will be a virtual meeting; the public may listen to the committee discussion by video or by phone.   To listen by video (Google meet):  meet.google.com/tbo-hmfv-ecq   To listen by phone: (US) +1 224-458-3283 PIN: ‪387 659 007#     Elaine Sabyan .

NHSN Reporting

 

To: Administrators, Executive Directors, Chief Clinical Officers, Directors of Nursing and others who are responsible for NHSN reporting From: Acute Care and Nursing Facilities Section Managers       Please review the linked document for NHSN information for reporting deadline reminders for the CMS Quality Reporting Programs. The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) encourages facilities to enter data in a timely manner ahead of the prescribed deadlines to ensure data completion and accuracy. .

ALR IDR Committee Meeting 1.25.24

 

To: ALR providers  From: HFEMSD   The ALR IDR Committee will meet on 01/25/24 at 10:00 a.m. This will be a hybrid meeting; the public may listen to the committee discussion in person, by video, or by phone.   To listen in person: Carson Room at CDPHE, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive S, Denver 80246. To listen by video (Google meet): meet.google.com/tbo-hmfv-ecq   To listen by phone: (US) +1 224-458-3283 PIN: ‪387 659 007#     Elaine Sabyan .

Guidelines for Prevention & Control of RSV Outbreaks in Long-Term Care Facilities 2023-2024 Season

 

To: Long-term Care Facilities   From: Communicable Disease Branch, CDPHE   Dear Colleagues,   As a reminder during peak respiratory season, the 2023-2024 guidelines for responding to RSV outbreaks in long-term care facilities are posted on the CDPHE website infectious disease guidelines for heath care settings.  For questions about RSV outbreak guidance or to report an outbreak, please contact our RSV epidemiologist, Nina Strayhorn (720.235.8368). If you need to speak with someone urgently, you can call the main communicable disease number: 303.692.2700. Outbreaks may also be reported to your local public health department and via this online outbreak report form.   We appreciate your partnership!   -- Elizabeth Austin, MPH Influenza & RSV Surveillance Manager Communicable Disease Branch Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 4300 Cherry Creek Dr South Denver, CO 80246-1530 720.383.4405 .

Guidelines for Prevention & Control of Influenza Outbreaks in Long-Term Care Facilities 2023-2024 Season

 

To: Long-term Care Facilities   From: Communicable Disease Branch, CDPHE   Dear Colleagues,   As a reminder during peak respiratory season, the 2023-2024 guidelines for responding to influenza outbreaks in long-term care facilities are posted on the CDPHE Infectious Disease Guidelines in Health Care settings website.   For questions about influenza outbreak guidance or to report an outbreak, please contact our influenza epidemiologist, Diane Ankovic (720.583.4107). If you need to speak with someone urgently, you can call the main communicable disease number: 303.692.2700. Outbreaks may also be reported to your local public health department and via this online outbreak report form.   We appreciate your partnership!   -- Elizabeth Austin, MPH Influenza & RSV Surveillance Manager Communicable Disease Branch Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment 4300 Cherry Creek Dr South Denver, CO 80246-1530 720.383.4405 .

Updates to COHFI Survey Tracking Module - 1/17/24

 

The Colorado Health Facilities Interactive (COHFI) System Survey Tracking module will deploy updates during routine maintenance hours of 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m, on  Wednesday 1/17/2024. It is possible the deployment could last hours longer if unforeseen problems occur. We are advising that all COHFI applications will be unavailable from at least 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday 1/17/2024.  The updates will include the integration of Internet Quality and Improvement Systems (iQIES) surveys into COHFI and changes to some features in the plan of correction deficiency (POCD) review screen. Specifically, the following changes will be made to the POCD review screen: The "Save as Draft" button will be removed from the POCD screen. This button was associated with an error that would cause surveys to malfunction and be unable to submit. External users will only have the "Save as Ready" button available to save work in a POCD. A POC and its associated POCDs are not submitted for review until the "Submit POC" button is clicked and the pop-up acknowledgement is marked as "Agree." The "Request IDR" button will be removed from the POCD screen. Providers wishing to request informal dispute resolution (IDR) for any deficiency are directed to contact the IDR coordinator by email per instructions furnished in the attachments in the "Documents" tab of the applicable survey. We appreciate your patience as we improve our systems. For any problems please contact us at cdphe.healthfacilities@state.co.us or 303-692-2836. .

Lawful Presence Requirement Repealed - SB 21-199

 

To: All licensed facilities From: HFEMSD Prior to July 1, 2022, Colorado state law required state and local agencies to verify the lawful presence of certain applicants for public benefits, which are defined to include professional, occupational, and commercial licenses. Consequently, certain provisions in 6 CCR 1011-1, Chapter Two - General Licensure Standards, 6 CCR 1011-1, Chapter Twenty-Six - Home Care Agencies, 6 CCR 1015-3, Chapter One - Rules Pertaining to EMS and EMR Education, EMS Certification or Licensure, and EMR Registration, and 6 CCR 1015-3, Chapter Five - Rules Pertaining to Air Ambulance Licensing require certain applicants for health facility licenses, EMS registrations or certifications, Emergency Medical Responder registrations, and air ambulance change of ownerships to provide “proof of lawful presence in the United States in compliance with Section 24-76.5-103(4), C.R.S.” Senate Bill 21-199 repealed and reenacted this “lawful presence” requirement. Effective July 1, 2022, the new law affirmatively states that lawful presence is no longer an eligibility requirement for state or local public benefits. Consequently, the three rule sets that require proof of lawful presence no longer conform to existing law and must be changed. These proposed rules are the result of the Department’s alignment of its rules with current law.  This mandatory statutory change impacts all applicants for public benefits, as defined by law, not only health facility and EMS applicants. Consequently, the Department will not be engaging in a stakeholder process but is, instead, distributing the proposed rules to stakeholders for your review. The Department will accept comments concerning the proposed rule changes via Google Form through February 19, 2024.    If you have any questions or have difficulty accessing the form, please email ellen.eggleston@state.co.us or nicola.koepnick@state.co.us .

01/23/24 Stakeholder meeting in regards to “Patients’ Right to Know” Act, or HB23-1218

 

To: All Stakeholders interested in regulations related to “Patients’ Right to Know” Act, or HB23-1218 From: HFEMSD You are invited to participate in the stakeholder process regarding The “Patients’ Right to Know” Act, or HB23-1218, a law passed by the Colorado Legislature in the 2023 session. This new law requires hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, freestanding emergency departments, licensed hospital units, and community clinics to make publicly available a list of the health care services which are generally available or subject to significant restriction specifically relating to health care in three areas: Reproductive health-care services; LGBTQ health-care services; and End-of-life health-care services. In response to the new law the Division will develop, in collaboration with stakeholders, a “Service Availability Form.” Once the form itself is developed, the Division will work to establish rules which bring the law into the pertinent health facility licensing chapters. Once the form is finalized and published, the affected health facilities will be required to provide this form to patients, members of the public, and the Department for public display. For more information, please see the whitepaper here.  Our fifth monthly meeting will be Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024, from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm, and on the fourth Tuesday of the month thereafter until the process concludes in spring 2024.  Please note this meeting, and future meetings, will be held in hybrid format with an option to attend either in-person or remotely, via Zoom. The in-person meeting will be at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment main campus, 4300 Cherry Creek S Drive, Denver, CO 80246, in Building A, Room Snow. This meeting room is located on the first floor of Building A, down the hall from the main entrance.  To join virtually select the zoom link and follow the prompts. Zoom Meeting Information  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84947474990?pwd=ZHJzdm05ZjZPZTBKb2laUjJiSWowUT09 Meeting ID: 849 4747 4990 Passcode: 002226 Notice of each meeting will be provided to facilities through the Division’s portal messaging system roughly two weeks in advance of each meeting. Notice will also be emailed directly to all individuals who sign up to receive such messages. Please sign up here. Please feel free to share this link with other interested parties. All who are interested are welcome to attend and participate. Meeting documents, including agendas, proposed rule language, presentations, etc., will be posted to the public meeting drive no later than a week before each meeting.  If you have any questions or comments prior to the meeting, feel free to contact Ash Jackson at ash.jackson@state.co.us, or Alexandra Haas, at alexandra.haas@state.co.us. .

HHA IDR Committee Meeting 1/16/2024

 

To: HHA providers   From: HFEMSD      The HHA IDR Committee will not meet 01/16/2024.  The committee has not received requests for review.        Elaine Sabyan .

ALAC Meeting Announcement

To: Assisted Living Providers and Consumers of Assisted Living Services   From: Sarah Peterson and Jane Flournoy, ALR Section, Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Service Division, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment     Assisted living providers, consumers of assisted living services, and community stakeholders are invited to join us on Thursday, January 25, 2024 from 1:30pm to 3:30pm for CDPHE's quarterly Assisted Living Advisory Committee (ALAC) meeting.   Attendees are welcome to participate either virtually or in-person:   Zoom Meeting Information:   https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87087936927 Meeting ID: 870 8793 6927   Meeting Location:   4300 Cherry Creek Drive South Denver, CO 80246 Building A Sabin/Cleere Conference Room   For questions about the meeting, please contact Sarah Peterson at sarah.peterson1@state.co.us or Jane Flournoy at jane.flournoy@state.co.us. .

Limited funds available! Financial support for small hospitals to report antibiotic use and resistance data to the National Healthcare Safety Network – 2023-2024 funding cycle

 

Date: January 10, 2024   Background. Antibiotic use and resistance data are essential to inform antibiotic stewardship programs within hospitals and public health efforts to support antibiotic stewardship. The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Antibiotic Use and Resistance (AUR) Module allows facilities to report and analyze antimicrobial use and/or resistance data to inform benchmarking, reduce antimicrobial resistant infections through antimicrobial stewardship, and interrupt transmission of resistant pathogens at individual facilities or facility networks. The AUR Module has two options. The AU Option allows facilities to report and analyze antimicrobial use. The AR Option allows facilities to report and analyze antimicrobial resistance. The AU and AR Options do not allow manual data entry. AU Option data from the electronic medication administration record (eMAR) or barcoding medication administration (BCMA) system must be translated into Clinical Data Architecture (CDA) format for upload into NHSN. Similarly, AR Option data require electronic submission to NHSN.   Objective of this funding. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) can support hospitals with limited resources to upload antibiotic use and resistance data into the AUR Module of NHSN.   Eligibility. Preference will be given to hospitals with <100 beds that are currently reporting to the AUR module and received reimbursement from CDPHE in the 2022-2023 funding cycle (Tier 1), followed by hospitals with <100 beds that have not yet begun reporting to the AUR Module (Tier 2), followed by hospitals with <100 beds that require support to maintain AUR data reporting (Tier 3). The funding is part of the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is available to Colorado hospitals in two cycles. From August 1, 2022 - July 31, 2023, we reimbursed 25 hospitals up to $2,500 to work with vendor systems designed to package and submit data to NHSN. From August 1, 2023 - July 31, 2024, CDPHE can reimburse 25 hospitals up to $3,000 for that work. The maximum reimbursement is $5,000 over the two cycles.   Requirements. Funding must be used for work with vendors that have completed AUR synthetic dataset validation for AU and/or AR data, respectively. CDPHE can only provide reimbursement for work completed during the funding cycle and cannot provide reimbursement for work completed prior to the funding cycle or stipends or grants for work yet to be performed. Hospitals enrolled in the first funding cycle must submit documentation of payment to an approved vendor and a single invoice for the total amount requested between August 1, 2022 and July 31, 2023. Hospitals enrolled in the second funding cycle must submit documentation of payment to an approved vendor and a single invoice for the total amount requested between August 1, 2023 and July 31, 2024. Reporting AUR Module data to CDPHE is not a requirement, although we will request and encourage access to the data through a voluntary data use agreement facilitated by NHSN. In order to receive reimbursement, hospitals are required to provide a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). For more information on UEI, visit SAM.gov.   Utility of the AUR Module. Antibiotic stewardship teams can use the AU Option to track and report antibiotic use as a CDC priority for Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Core Element implementation. Stewardship teams can use the AR option to evaluate antimicrobial resistance data and monitor resistance for clinical care and infection prevention. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will require hospitals to submit both AU and AR data to the AUR module data beginning calendar year 2024 as a requirement under the Public Health and Clinical Data Exchange objective of the CMS Promoting Interoperability Program. This requirement applies to eligible acute care and critical access hospitals that participate in the Promoting Interoperability Program. For additional information and steps to fulfill this requirement, visit the NHSN CMS Facility Guidance Document.   Application. Please complete an application here: https://redcap.link/62wtl7mu. The application window for the second funding cycle is open and will remain open until available slots have been filled. CDPHE will review applications and enroll facilities on a monthly schedule, beginning August 1, 2023. Enrollment serves as a notice of intent to seek reimbursement for eligible work once complete. Questions? Email cdphe_hai_ar@state.co.us. .

1.16.24 Labor and Childbirth Policy Stakeholder Meeting, impacting 6 CCR 1011-1, Chapter 4 - General Hospitals, and Chapter 22 - Birth Centers

 

To: All Stakeholders interested in the implementation of Senate Bill 21-193, concerning the protection of a pregnant person’s rights during the perinatal period, as it relates to 6 CCR 1011-1, Chapter 4 - General Hospitals, and Chapter 22 - Birth Centers From: HFEMSD You are invited to participate in the stakeholder process to develop regulatory language to implement the requirements in Senate Bill 21-193, concerning the protection of a pregnant person’s rights during the perinatal period, and specifically Section 8 of that bill, which requires health facilities that provide services related to labor and childbirth to have certain policies consistent with Section 25-3-126, C.R.S. The proposed rules developed during this time will then be incorporated into other rulemakings updating 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 4 – General Hospitals, and Chapter 22 – Birth Centers.    Stakeholder meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month, through January 2024. All stakeholder meetings are open to the public, and all interested parties are welcome to attend and provide input. Additionally, all stakeholders, regardless of whether they are able to attend the meetings, may provide input throughout the stakeholder process and are always welcome to submit written comments to the Department. The fourth and final stakeholder meeting will be held on January 16, 2023, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. This meeting will be a hybrid meeting, with an option to attend either in-person or remotely, via Zoom, to ensure equal access for participation, regardless of geographic location of the attendee.  The in-person meeting will be at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment main campus, 4300 Cherry Creek S Drive, Denver, CO 80246, in Building B, Room B1F. This room is located on the southeast corner of the first floor of Building B. If you are planning to attend in-person, please send an email to nicola.koepnick@state.co.us. When- Tuesday, January 16, 2023, from 1:00-3:00 p.m.  Where- This meeting will be held in hybrid format.  Colorado Department of Public Health Main Campus. 4300 Cherry Creek S Drive, Denver, CO 80246.  Building B Room B1F. Or Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85496754212 Meeting ID: 854 9675 4212 Details regarding the stakeholder process, including process timeline, expected topic schedule, and alternate ways to provide comment are included in the stakeholder information letter. All who are interested are welcome to attend and participate. Meeting documents, including agendas, proposed rule language, presentations, etc., will be posted to the public meeting drive no later than a week before each meeting.  Notice of each meeting is provided to facilities through the Division’s portal messaging system roughly two weeks in advance of each meeting. Notice will also be emailed directly to all individuals who sign up to receive such messages. Please sign up here. Please feel free to share this link with other interested parties. If you have any questions or comments prior to the fourth meeting of the Labor and Childbirth Policy Stakeholder Group, please contact Francile Beights at francile.beights@state.co.us, or Alexandra Haas at alexandra.haas@state.co.us.  .

Nursing Home Innovations Board Sponsors “Healing the Spirit,” a day of regeneration to bring the spark back home to your nursing home

 

To: All Nursing Homes From: Jo Tansey, Branch Chief, Acute and Nursing Facilities All Colorado nursing homes are invited to attend a free, one-day workshop sponsored by the Nursing Home Innovations Board, “Healing the Spirit,” a day of regeneration and learning for nursing home teams to provide tools to bring the spark back home.  The pandemic has left most Colorado nursing homes in a dispirited state resulting in a kind of organizational lethargy and a frequent experience for management of barely holding on. This one day experience of regeneration and learning is designed to support the administrator, the leadership team, and any other champions of resilience in your organization.  You will enter a process of recovering the spirit as an antidote to the post-pandemic malaise, and you’ll get specific tools and strategies as you begin the process of renewing the life force among staff and residents. You and your team members can participate either in person or remotely at no cost to your home. We only ask that if you participate remotely, you regard this as sacred time free from interruptions (unless of course you experience a real emergency). Date:  January 11, 2024 from 8:30 - 4:30  Location: First Plymouth Church 3501 S. Colorado Blvd, Englewood CO 80113 Coffee, lunch and snacks will be provided to onsite participants To register: Please send: name(s) email address phone # titles for everyone planning on attending to Debbie Quintana at dquintana@cohca.org. For more information contact Beth Irtz at 303-495-4805 or elizabeth.irtz@gmail.com .

Memorandum: Home Care Advisory Meeting Schedule for 2024 - 2025

 

To: Home Care Providers and Consumers   From: Erica McClurg, RN-BSN, Home Care and Hospice Services Manager   Home Care Advisory Committee Meeting Schedule 2024 - 2025 Topic: HCAC Quarterly Meetings Every 3 months on the Third Thursday   Thursday, January 18, 2023 from 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.                    Please click this link to join. Passcode: 023490              Thursday, April 18, 2024 from 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.               Please click this link to join. Passcode: 023490      Thursday, July 18. 2024 from 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.              Please click this link to join. Passcode: 023490      Thursday, October 17, 2024 from 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.               Please click this link to join. Passcode: 023490      Thursday, January 16, 2024 from 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.               Please click this link to join. Passcode: 023490   Please reach out to Erica McClurg, Section Manager for Home Care and Hospice or Steve Cox, Branch Chief for Home and Community Facilities if you have any questions.   erica.mcclurg@state.co.us   steve.cox@state.co.us .

Technical Requests from State Vital Records

 

COVES is the Colorado Vital Events System and went live on January 2, 2024. This is the new system that will be used by facility staff and physicians to complete and register birth and death certificates. This communication is a request to allow pop-ups on this site: https://coves.colorado.gov   We also request that emails from the below addresses be accepted: noReply@cohosting-by-genesis.com  Communications from the system are sent from this address. Genesis is the name of the vendor company.   Communications from the state vital records office are sent from: cdphe.edr@state.co.us cdphe.vitalrecords411@state.co.us     Thank you for your assistance. If you have questions or concerns, please contact the Office of the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, Field Unit, at cdphe.vitalrecords411@state.co.us. .