FEDERAL NEWS
CDC Updates Guidance on MDROs in Nursing Homes
CDC has released updated guidance for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in nursing homes to prevent the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). This updated guidance expands the use of EBP to include any residents of a nursing home with an indwelling medical device or wound, as well as residents with known infection or colonization with an MDRO. These updated recommendations are meant to protect nursing home residents and staff from spreading MDROs, which can cause serious and hard to treat infections, while avoiding restrictions on resident activities or a need for private rooms, unlike with Contact Precautions. Recall that newly released RoPs guidance on infection control includes a section on MDROs.
Another Batch of Phase 4 Provider Relief Funds Distributed
Last week, 151 providers received deposits of their Phase 4 PRF payment. These providers received a total of $142 million. HRSA indicates it is working to finish processing the remaining 2% of Phase 4 applications as soon as possible and that about $3B of the Phase 4 pot remains available for that purpose.
STATE NEWS
Attorney General Candidate Forum on Health Care – Recording Now AvailableA huge thank you to everyone who was able to join us at the first ever Attorney General Candidate Forum on Health Care sponsored by LeadingAge Kansas and six other health care-related associations. If you would like to watch the forum and find out what candidates had to say on a variety of health care issues a recording is available to download here.
LEADINGAGE KANSAS NEWS
Join Us This Friday for our Weekly Webinar
On July 29th, we will host Chuck Clanahan, U.S. Department of Homeland Security who will present on the Active Shooter Policy. This session will NOT be recorded due to a request from him. Make sure to attend the webinar live that day so you don’t miss his session. The entire webinar will not be recorded as we cannot start recording in the middle. We can’t wait to have you join us!
Get the latest on COVID-19, CMS, the Legislature and more each Friday at 10 AM. If you haven’t registered for future calls, you can do so here. If you would like to listen to updates you have missed, visit this page.
LEADINGAGE NATIONAL NEWS
Coronavirus Update Call for July 13th, 2:30 PM CT
Wednesday’s call will discuss how proper ventilation and HVAC systems, which can be quite an investment for a community, mitigate COVID-19 transmission and create healthier and safer environments. On July 13th at 2:30 PM CT, we will welcome Dr. Vito Ilacqua from the Indoor Environments Division of the Environmental Protection Agency. He will provide guidance on how ventilation systems can help reduce transmission of airborne diseases and also answer your questions on how these systems can be best used. If you haven’t registered for LeadingAge Update Calls, you can do so here. You can also find previous call recordings here. Note that to access recordings of the calls you need a LeadingAge password. Any staff member of any LeadingAge member organization can set up a password to access previous calls and other “members only” content.
RESOURCES
New PHI Report Addresses State Hazard Pay and Sick Leave Policies for Direct Care Workers During COVID-19
Yesterday, PHI released a new research report, “Essential Support: State Hazard Pay and Sick Leave Policies for Direct Care Workers During COVID-19.” This report details findings from a recent study on hazard pay and paid sick leave policies enacted across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., from March 2020 to August 2021 (the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic). The purpose of the study was to document how states responded to the challenges faced by direct care workers and other essential workers during one of the most devastating health crises in recent history, and to generate lessons for the future. As well as developing a comprehensive catalogue of relevant state policies, PHI explored their impact on the direct care workforce through a modest set of quantitative analyses using publicly available data from the Current Population Survey. Overall, this review found that:
- 17 states implemented at least one hazard pay policy and four states implemented a new paid sick leave policy during the study period.
- Of the 14 states that already had an existing paid sick leave policy in place, four made amendments or issued supplementary policies.
- Just 10 states implemented both types of policies: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington State.
Read the full report here.
