Infection Control Tools

The National Forum of ESRD Networks Medical Advisory Council Vaccination Toolkit (Revised 2020) was updated in January 2020.  Find it at https://esrdnetworks.org/resources/toolkits/mac-toolkits-1/vaccination-toolkit/vaccination-toolkit-revised-2020/view.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the ASN Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety (NTDS) group have partnered to develop a new online learning module, Managing Infection in an Outpatient Dialysis Facility.  Find it at https://www.asn-online.org/ntds/olm.aspx.

A new MEI online continuing-education course on Include Dialysis Patients in your Facility Culture of Safety focuses on effective systems and teamwork – including patients – to accomplish the mutual goal of safe, high-quality patient care.  When something goes wrong, the focus is on what, rather than who, is the problem, with the intent to bring process failures and system issues to light and solve them in a non-biased, non-threatening way.  Find the course at https://course.wcea.education/app/mei/elearning/nurse/medical-education-institute/194758/include-dialysis-patients-in-your-facility-culture-of-safety.

CMS reviews where we are with the “ordinary” flu, and what we need to do about it, at https://www.cms.gov/outreach-and-educationoutreachffsprovpartprogprovider-partnership-email-archive/2020-02-13#_Toc32395783.

And last but certainly not least, you can find CDC’s nexus page on the Coronavirus that began in Wuhan, China, which the WHO has named “Covid-19,” at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.  The WHO’s central page on Covid-19 is located at https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019.

NHSN 2020 News and Deadlines

Current NHSN Dialysis Component Bugs:  Contrary to the software’s response, Denominator Data is not actually saved after making updates.  CMS analysis reports within NHSN are not functioning as expected.  On February 11, 2020, NHSN reported that “our technical team is working to resolve [these issues] as soon as possible.  We will provide an update shortly.”  Find the NHSN Current Defects List at https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/releasemgt/index.html.

The 2020 Outpatient Dialysis Center Practices Survey:  Beginning February 8, 2020, users with administrative rights will be able to complete and save this survey by using the ‘Save as Complete’ button.  Facilities must complete the Outpatient Dialysis Center Practices Survey by May 1, 2020 in order to be allowed to enter data into the NHSN Dialysis Component.  Completion by February 28 is recommended.  For convenience, a paper version of the 2020 annual survey can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/forms/57.500_OutpatientDialysisSurv_BLANK.pdf.  Enter the information online after you log in to NHSN for your facility.

2020 NHSN Data Deadlines for QIP Credit:  To receive QIP credit, NHSN data for your facility must be entered and corrected by the deadlines in the following table.  For QIA purposes, your Network may require earlier due dates.

• Data for October-December 2019 must be entered and corrected by March 31, 2020.
• Data for January-March 2020 must be entered and corrected by June 30, 2020.
• Data for April-June 2020 must be entered and corrected by September 30, 2020.
• Data for July-September 2020 must be entered and corrected by December 31, 2020.

Before each QIP deadline, to insure proper credit, each facility should:

• Review the NHSN Dialysis Event Protocol at https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/PDFs/pscManual/8pscDialysisEventcurrent.pdf to ensure all data were correctly reported to NHSN.
• Review the Three Steps to Review Dialysis Event Surveillance Data at https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/pdfs/dialysis/3-steps-to-review-de-data-2014.pdf.
• Use the How to Create and Read an NHSN Report for CMS ESRD QIP guide at https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/PDFs/dialysis/CMS-QIP-NHSN-report.pdf to verify that your facility has met the minimum CMS reporting requirements.
• Refer to the How to Create and Read an NHSN BSI Report guide at https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/PDFs/dialysis/BSI-cheatsheet.pdf to review your facility’s BSI rates.
• Contact the NHSN Helpdesk at nhsn@cdc.gov using the subject line ‘Dialysis’ if you have any questions.

Paper versions of all NHSN forms can be found under the ‘Data Collection Forms’ section of https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/dialysis/event/index.html.  For complete NHSN Dialysis Component specifications, see https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/dialysis/event/index.html.

Medicaid Waivers for Home Patients

The Medical Education Institute has published a Home Dialysis Central blog post on Medicare Waivers: The Best Kept Secret in Dialysis Home Health Care, which describes a program that allows people who don’t normally qualify for Medicaid, but who have fragile health, to get Medicaid funding for home care anyway.  The program doesn’t cover dialysis itself, but it does cover home health care aides and other useful services.  State agencies administer waiver programs that help seniors and people with disabilities, to ensure that these vulnerable populations can live independently in their homes and communities, and/or age in place.  Thanks to these waivers, states can provide services to their residents that wouldn’t usually be covered by Medicaid.  If you are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, you can have and use both for the services you need.  The services they cover are not always the same.  For example, Medicaid offers coverage for things like personal care services while Medicare does not.  Find the MEI blog post at https://homedialysis.org/news-and-research/blog/346-medicare-waivers-the-best-kept-secret-in-dialysis-home-health-care.

Winter 2020 Patient Newsletters

We’ve published our Patient Newsletters for Winter 2020.  They feature articles on treatment options, flu shots, grievances, access to care, how to stay informed by the Network, and how to help the Network improve patient care.  Find them at:

• Network 18 in English – https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Patient-Newsletter—Winter-2020.html?soid=1124640542886&aid=tQcS5wVhLU0.
• Network 18 in Spanish: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Bolet-n-del-Paciente–Invierno-2020.html?soid=1124640542886&aid=10L4OEzOt24.
• Network 16 in English: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Patient-Newsletter—Winter-2020.html?soid=1118124189703&aid=ZkILwz5VcZE.
• Network 16 in Spanish: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/nwrn.org/files/N2/Win2020NW16PNLEsp.PDF.

3/2+ 2020 ANNA National Symposium

ANNA will hold their 2020 National Symposium April 19-22, 2020 in Orlando FL.  Registration rates increase after March 2, 2020, and again after April 6.  Hotel discounts expire on March 20, 2020.  Find an overview below, and complete details, agenda, and registration at https://annanurse.org/events/2020-national-symposium/ or http://annasymposium.org/.

Other ANNA events that have been announced (find more information at https://annanurse.org/events/national) include:

• Los Angeles Chapter workshop on The Nurse Perspective: Elevating the Critical Role of Nurses in the Management of sHPT, El Segundo CA, March 10, 2020 (see https://annanurse.org/chapter-program-opportunities).
• National Nephrology Nurses Week, September 13-20, 2020.
• 2020 Nephrology Nursing Practice, Management, & Leadership Conference, Chicago IL, October 17-19, 2020.
• 2021 National Symposium, Palm Springs CA, May 2-5, 2021.
• 2021 Nephrology Nursing Practice, Management, & Leadership Conference, Hollywood Beach FL, September 17-19, 2021.
• 2022 National Symposium, Fort Worth TX, May 22-25, 2022.

New Reports: USRDS, OPTN, SRTR, UNOS

The US Renal Data System (USRDS) 2019 Annual Data Report: Epidemiology of Kidney Disease in the United States has been released on paper.  The online version was released in November 2019.  Find the Report at https://www.ajkd.org/issue/S0272-6386(19)X0003-7, and the USRDS ADR page at https://www.usrds.org/adr.aspx.

The Annual Data Report of the OPTN and SRTR (the US Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients) is now available, documenting data pertaining to the period 2007-2018.  Find it at https://srtr.transplant.hrsa.gov/annual_reports/2018_ADR_Preview.aspx.  Find the OPTN home page at https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/ and SRTR at https://www.srtr.org/.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has published new vision and mission statements.  Find them at https://unos.org/news/introducing-unos-new-mission-and-vision/.

4/25 NKF Patient Lifestyle Workshop in Seattle

NKF and Swedish Medical Center will present an April 25, 2020 four-hour workshop on Lifestyle & Kidney Health: Diet, Exercise, Weight Loss and Beyond.  Topics will include nutrition, diabetes, blood pressure, fitness, and transplant preparation.  Lunch will be provided.  See below for full details: