Public Policy Updates

The NHSN team has scheduled training webinars on the new 2022 Rebaseline reports. Register here for the Wednesday, December 18 1-2 pm ET webinar on SSI reports. Register here for the Thursday, December 19 2-3 pm ET webinar on MRSA LabID events. Webinars will also be recorded and posted to the NHSN Rebaseline Education webpage.

CMS has issued revised guidance on Appendix Q which indicates when an immediate jeopardy citation is warranted. The full outline and memo can be found here.

CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) met November 14-15, 2024 to discuss updates to the Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel Guideline and the Part 1 Draft update to the Isolation Precautions Guideline. The committee approved draft recommendations to the Viral Respiratory Infections section of the IC in HCP Guideline, which will now go … Continued

The CDC is asking NHSN users to reply to a questionnaire to assess the potential impact on hospitals due to the disruption to the supply of BD BACTECTM blood culture media bottles between June and October 2024. The questionnaire will be available from December 14 – 31, 2024 in the December NHSN newsletter.

The FDA issued “Transitional Enforcement Policy for Ethylene Oxide (EtO) Sterilization Facility Changes for Class III Devices” to respond to anticipated changes in EtO sterilization activities as facilities work to advance orderly implementation of and compliance with EPA’s 2024 rule which revised emissions standards for EtO. This guidance is intended to prevent or mitigate the … Continued

The first group of new reports based on the 2022 HAI Rebaseline are now available in the NHSN application. These new reports allow NHSN users to generate SIRs for MRSA Blood LabID data and Complex 30-day SSI data for inpatient adult COLO and HYST procedure categories using the updated 2022 baseline. The NHSN team has … Continued

National Influenza Vaccination Week will be observed December 2-6, 2024. This national awareness week highlights the importance of influenza vaccination and serves as a reminder for everyone 6 months and older to get a seasonal flu vaccine. See influenza resources from CDC.

The CDC issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to provide information about the first case of clade I mpox diagnosed in the U.S. The individual had recently traveled to areas experiencing clade I mpox virus transmission and sought medical care after experiencing symptoms after return to the U.S. CDC continues to classify the … Continued

The CDC’s NHSN is in the process of updating the national baseline used to calculate HAI standardized infection ratios (SIRs) and standardized utilization ratios (SURs) in the Patient Safety Component. The updated SIR and SUR reports will be released in phases. New SIR reports will be available in NHSN on November 21 for MRSA bacteremia … Continued