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A survey tool to assess infection control in ambulatory care settings was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for use by inspectors for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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Conducting an inspection in a Las Vegas endoscopy clinic shortly before it became the epicenter of the largest "look-back" patient testing effort in medical history, inspectors for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services saw nothing amiss with needle practices that ultimately led to a nationally publicized hepatitis C outbreak, Hospital Infection Control & Prevention has learned.
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(Editor's note: The following frequently asked questions were posted on The Joint Commission web site regarding the issue of health care-associated infections and sentinel events. They were marked as most recently reviewed in March 2008.)
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An unlucky 13 out of every 1,000 inpatients in recently surveyed hospitals were either infected or colonized with Clostridium difficile, a rate that is 6.5 to 20 times higher than previous incidence estimates.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that a final rule will appear in the Nov. 18, 2008, Federal Register detailing changes to the agency's outpatient ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system.
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Under standard IC.01.03.01, The Joint Commission requires that the hospital identifies risks for acquiring and transmitting infections.
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Citing a dramatic disconnect between the tens of thousands of patients dying annually with health care-associated infections (HAIs) and the paltry number that actually are being reported as sentinel events, The Joint Commission is urging hospitals to file the voluntary reports to help improve patient safety.
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As a new generation of health care epidemiologists comes into the work force, these physicians may find that hospital administrators have a troubling lack of awareness about the resources required to run an infection prevention program in today's increasingly regulatory environment.
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(Editor's note: In this issue of IP Newbie, we feature a column for new professionals written by Patti Grant, an infection preventionist and editorial advisory board member of this publication. An IP since 1990, Grant was profiled in the debut issue of this supplement. She has a passion for mentoring that will add invaluable "in-the-trenches" insights for new practitioners in the field.)