03/10/2022

ODH addresses survey approaches, R3AP expansion

At last week’s monthly meeting with LeadingAge Ohio, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) shared that complaint surveys continue to outpace annual surveys during a March 3 call with LeadingAge Ohio. ODH is asking that facilities conduct a root cause analysis for the complaint calls for their facility. LeadingAge Ohio has asked ODH to share detailed information on the complaint surveys that do not result in citations. Additional details on citations trends from complaint surveys are shared by LeadingAge Ohio and member communities on the monthly STAT (Survey Tips and Tactics) calls.

ODH will be providing updates on how the survey is rolling out for the vaccine mandate. ODH shared that some facilities have been confused about the 100% compliance requirement. Facilities are required to be 100% compliant with the mandate and will be cited if they are not. The 80% and 90% thresholds outlined in the guidance only relates to the level of enforcement and does not prevent the citation. LeadingAge Ohio has provided additional detail in this week’s YAWA. ODH had to remind surveyors that they are to accept any format of the vaccination information as long as it included all the required elements found in the CMS matrix. The COVID-19 Staff Vaccination Matrix Instructions for Providers can be found on the CMS Nursing Home webpage, under the download section, and within the zip file called Survey Resources with Staff Vaccine Documents.

The Ohio Department of Aging Director Ursel McElroy shared a few Regional Rapid Response Program (R3AP) updates including that there have not been many requests for crisis staffing support for nursing homes or assisted living facilities. The R3AP program reviews cases in facilities and assigns the regional medical directors to call facilities that have two or more COVID-19 cases. The number of facilities in outbreak reduced from 1,380 resident cases in the prior week to 915. The Director shared a concern about the NHSN reporting not being updated or complete. She shared that there were 68% of facilities reporting in NHSN. ODA will cross check data between the NHSN reporting and COVID Care Center portal. Director McElroy reminds facilities to access the therapeutics webinar hosted last week if they were unable to attend live and of the Ohio campaign for Every Shot Counts.