Policy Updates

In the second of three reports, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that during the pandemic surges of 2020, more than 1,300 nursing homes had COVID-19 infection rates of 75 percent or more among their Medicare beneficiaries. The report also found that the survey process did … Continued

CMS issued a Quality, Safety & Oversight Group memo (QSO-23-05-NH) providing updates to the Nursing Home Care Compare Website and Five Star Quality Rating System. Among the process revisions noted in the memo, as part of CMS’s commitment to transparency, the agency will allow consumers to see all of the citations a facility received regardless … Continued

The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report, “Public Health Preparedness: HHS Could Improve Oversight of Research Involving Enhanced Potential Pandemic Pathogens.” The report’s recommendations include:

The CDC’s Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) team is sponsoring a webinar on Tuesday, January 24 at 2 – 3 pm ET. On the call, CDC experts will provide an overview of COVID-19 epidemiology and the current variant landscape, and address current CDC testing guidance and the National Institutes of Health and Infectious Disease … Continued

Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement about a recently detected preliminary signal for stroke in people ages 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 bivalent mRNA vaccine. To date, they have not seen an association or increased risk of stroke from vaccines in these databases. The totality of the … Continued

The CDC joined the government of Uganda and global public health community in marking the end of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, 42 days after the last reported case. Read the CDC announcement.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has extended the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) for another 90 days, effective January 11, 2023. Read the HHS announcement.

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant XBB.1.5 now accounts for 28 percent of the virus circulating in the U.S. The FDA is closely monitoring this subvariant because it is similar to other subvariants against which Evusheld is not effective. Evusheld is currently the only option for pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 and is authorized under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use … Continued

A joint CDC/FDA investigation has identified seven linked cases of sepsis after transfusion from bacterially contaminated platelet blood products since 2018. The cases occurred in multiple states and genetic testing of isolates by the CDC found with high probability that the organisms were related and had a potential common source. Read the FDA safety alert and … Continued