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

 

Date: July 21, 2023   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.