On October 16, the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) released the Point of Care Laboratory Reporting Pathway withing the NHSN Long-term Care COVID-19 Module. This added capability enables CMS-certified long-term care facilities to meet the Department of Health and Human Services’ requirement to report SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care antigen test data and other on-site COVID-19 laboratory testing data.
In order to utilize the new pathway to fulfill reporting requirements, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities that are NHSN users will need to upgrade their NHSN Secure Access Management Service (SAMS) from Level 1 to Level 3. The CDC is working closely with facilities to assist them in this process. An email invitation from the CDC to perform this upgrade will be sent to users. Alternatively, facilities can email nhsn@cdc.gov with the subject line “Enhancing Data Security” to begin upgrading their SAMS access to use this Pathway.
The new NHSN pathway creates a single, standardized reporting system which:
- Is already used by all approximately 15,400 nursing homes for other mandatory COVID-19 reporting;
- Has the capability to share data with state and local health departments;
- Has the ability to share data with HHS and CMS; and
- Avoids the creation of a patchwork of different jurisdictional reporting systems by state health departments.