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Reporting Clostridium Difficile via NHSN

Starting July 1, 2023, nursing facilities in Maine will need to comply with a new health care quality reporting requirement under 90-590 CMR Rule Chapter 270 – Uniform Reporting System for Health Care Quality Data Sets. While this Chapter was originally deemed to apply to nursing facilities in 2019, its enforcement was suspended by the Maine Health Data Organization (MHDO) board due to the administrative burden of the pandemic.
 
However, it's important to note that the enforcement of this reporting requirement will resume on July 1, 2023. This means that nursing facilities must ensure they are in compliance with the reporting requirements outlined in this Chapter. As per the regulations, each nursing facility will need to submit quarterly data to the MHDO on Clostridium difficile events for all facility-wide residents, following the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) specifications.
 
Additionally, each health care facility (including nursing facilities) will be required to authorize the MHDO to have access to the NHSN for facility-specific reports of data submitted for any healthcare-associated infection measure under a state or federal mandate, for the purpose of public reporting.
 
SAVE THE DATE: April 5, 2023 / 1pm-2pm:  Maine Health Care Association (MHCA) will be hosting a special webinar to help nursing facilities prepare for these new requirement.   

Staff contact: mcarland@mehca.org