Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Virginia Department of Health
 
Board
State Board of Health
 
chapter
Regulations for Disease Reporting and Control [12 VAC 5 ‑ 90]
Action Expanded Requirements for Reporting Healthcare-Associated Infections
Stage Proposed
Comment Period Ended on 4/1/2011
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3/31/11  12:45 pm
Commenter: Carilion Medical Center Infection Prevention and Control Department

Positive Outcomes vs. Data Reporting
 

The introduction of infection control programs in healthcare has made a significant impact on patient outcomes, as well as improvements in employee safety. These improvements did not take place with the Infection Preventionist (IP) sitting in an office collecting or reporting data. For a reduction in HAI’s the IP’s need to be visible to patients, visitors, and employees and actively involved in process improvement efforts. The continued availability of the IP is imperative for these improvements which will decrease adverse patient and employee outcomes.

 Does the State of Virginia really want to take away valuable time from the IP’s active involvement and visibility in the healthcare arena in order to collect and report data according to the proposed regulations? The proposed requirements “do not channel additional resources to existing infection control programs and the benefits are expected to be small. In fact, the introduction of the additional measures that must be reported may actually divert staff resources from infection control activities to reporting activities at the hospitals.”   
 
In addition, the proposed regulations also state “VDH does not plan to conduct data validation of the accuracy of the data reported.” How does this help the general public in making informed decisions regarding healthcare when no accurate comparisons can be made between facilities? If in fact, these proposed regulations are put into place there MUST be a way to validate data and make comparisons that will indeed be beneficial to the public.
 
Keeping the above in mind the Infection Prevention and Control Department at Carilion Medical Center in Roanoke, Virginia would like to make the following comments on the proposed changes to the Regulations for Disease Reporting and Control, Virginia Department of Health.
 
1. Central line-associated bloodstream infections in one adult inpatient medical ward and one adult inpatient surgical ward are to be reported to NHSN. Wards selected should be those with longest length of stay during the previous calendar year, excluding cardiology, obstetrics, hospice, and step-down units. Data shall include the number of central-line days in each population at risk.
  • Consider revising to only one additional inpatient ward as there are acute care facilities in Virginia who do not have separate medical and surgical wards.
  • Consider deleting “wards should be those with longest length of stay....excluding cardiology, obstetrics, hospice, and step-down units”. This requirement limits the number of hospitals required to report.
  • Why were step-down units excluded? Step-down medical and/or surgical units may in fact be the areas that have the most central lines therefore increasing patients who may be at risk for acquiring a CLABSI.
 2. Clostridium difficile infection, laboratory-identified events on inpatient units facility-wide - shall include patient days.
  • Consider removing completely. This requirement does not take into consideration patients who may have received antibiotics in the outpatient setting and not had a previous hospital stay. By not including definitions of healthcare associated C-Diff infection what comparison will be made? Submission of this data without stratification would not provide hospital specific information regarding C.Diff and/or antibiotic stewardship. Where is the scientific evidence that this requirement would lead to prevention and a reduction in the number of C-Diff cases? How will gathering these numbers be used to change practice or prevention efforts?
 3.       SCIP (Surgical Care Improvement Project) core measures pertaining to hip arthroplasty, knee arthroplasty, and coronary artery bypass graft procedures are to be reported quarterly to the Virginia Department of Health.
 
·         Consider removing completely. This data has been collected by healthcare facilities for years and reported directly to Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS). Further reporting from a different area in the healthcare facility may introduce errors in what is already being reported. The Virginia Department of Health should be able to collaborate with CMS to receive this data.
 
 
 
Respectfully submitted:
Thomas Kerkering, MD, FACP, FIDSA, Section Chief, Infectious Disease & Medical Direction of Infection Prevention and Control
Beverly Sturgill, RN, MSN, CIC, IP
Tim Lafountain, MSEd, IP
Shannon Hamilton, RN, BSN, IP
Melisa Hobbs, RN, IP
Jo Schultz, MT (ASCP) IP
Sandy Sebestin, MT (ASCP) IP
Tina Williamson, RN, MBA, IP
Cindy Chaos, MPH, CIC, IP
CommentID: 16368