Public Policy Updates

Travel-associated and locally acquired cases of dengue virus have been increasing in the U.S. in recent years. Severe dengue is a medical emergency, but no preventive medicines or specific antiviral treatments are available. CDC Clinician Outreach and Communications Activity (COCA) will hold a webinar on clinical features, diagnostic testing and clinical management guidelines for dengue … Continued

APIC submitted comments to Leapfrog on proposed changes to the 2026 hospital survey related to the updated Standardized Infection Ratios (SIRs) model used by CDC’s NHSN following the 2022 rebaseline. Read APIC’s comments.

The Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Requiring Hospitalization Measure Technical Specification Report is now available from CMS. The measure is a facility-level, one-year outcome measure that estimates the risk-standardized rate of HAIs that are acquired during SNF care and result in hospitalization. HAIs are identified using the principal diagnosis on beneficiaries’ Medicare inpatient … Continued

The CDC updated its Guideline for Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel to include a new section that consolidates and updates recommendations for managing healthcare personnel (HCP) who are exposed to or ill with respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and RSV. The new guideline streamlines the previous pathogen-specific approach into one set of recommendations in a … Continued

APIC provided comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on new categories for childhood vaccine recommendations described in an August 10, 2026 Executive Order (EO), “Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans.” The EO categorizes vaccine recommendations for all children, for high-risk populations, and based on shared clinical decision-making. APIC believe … Continued

The White House announced the nomination of Heidi Overton, MD to be the next administrator of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Overton would succeed Dr. Marty Makary, who resigned in May. Dr. Overton, who is board-certified in public health and general preventive medicine, is currently deputy director of the White House Domestic … Continued

The CDC issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to share information about the risk of severe arboviral neuroinvasive disease among patients who are receiving B cell-depleting or B cell-modulating medications. These medications are used to treat autoimmune conditions and transplant rejection. Since there are no approved treatments or prophylaxis to prevent arboviral diseases, … Continued

President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) revising long-standing evidence-based childhood vaccine recommendations. In addition to reducing the number of recommended vaccines from 18 to 11, the EO also recommends that the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine be administered in three separate single disease shots, and all childhood vaccines should be administered at separate … Continued

The CDC is introducing CaseTrace, a new interactive tool to support HAI outbreak investigations. CaseTrace requires no software installation and works in any web browser. Learn more.