Antibiotics and similar drugs, known more broadly as antimicrobial agents, are an instrumental weapon in the healthcare armory, rendering once-lethal infections treatable, and dramatically reducing instances of sepsis and secondary infections associated with cancer chemotherapy and organ transplants. However, sub-therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents in livestock, over-prescription, bacterial evolution and myriad other factors have contributed to the emergence of resistance in the infections that these agents are intended to combat. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a critical threat to the global healthcare system. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics each year in the United States, and at least 23,000 people die annually as a result of these infections. As part of a government-wide response, CMS has proposed a series of measures to combat antibiotic resistance in healthcare facilities.
Long-Term Care Facilities
On October 4, 2016, CMS published a Final Rule to revise Medicare and Medicaid participation requirements for skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes (collectively, long-term care facilities). The Final Rule requires that long-term care facilities establish and maintain an Infection Prevention and Control Program (IPCP) by November 28, 2016 that includes “[a] system for preventing, identifying, reporting, investigating, and controlling infections and communicable diseases for all residents, staff, volunteers, visitors, and other individuals providing services under a contractual arrangement based upon the facility assessment . . . and following accepted national standards.”