COVID-19 Update: States Rolling Out Mandates for Long-Term Care Facilities
As states are working to move forward with their reopening plans, some are introducing COVID-19 mandates for long-term care facilities. The team at Infection Control Consulting Services (ICCS) expects the number of states enforcing new requirements to increase in the upcoming weeks. This comes as CMS resumes inspections and is expected to unveil new requirements for long-term providers.
New Jersey became one the first states with such mandates when it introduced an order earlier this month. Long-term care settings, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, personal care homes, residential healthcare facilities, and dementia care homes, are required to have one or more individuals with training in infection prevention and control employed or contracted on a full-time or part-time basis to provide on-site management of the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) program.
The stipulation for individuals with training include "an individual certified by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology or meets the requirements." Employees responsible for infection control in long-term care facilities are typically not certified, hence the state including contracted individuals, which would include consultants.
Other benchmarks long-term care facilities must comply with include developing an updated outbreak plan with lessons learned from the pandemic, implementing a respiratory protection program that complies with OSHA standards, conducting weekly staff COVID-19 testing, and securing personal protective equipment.
New Jersey is tying millions of dollars in Medicaid funding to long-term care facilities meeting requirements and avoiding infection control failures. Read more about the New Jersey directive here.
Long-term care facilities seeking assistance with achieving state and federal regulation compliance, identifying vulnerabilities, corrective action plan development, deficiency mitigation, implementation of programs, and staff education should contact ICCS by filling out the “Request a Consultation” form on this page, clicking here, or calling (215) 692-3485.
Request a Consultation
If your matter is urgent,
please call (215) 692-3485.