Throughout the public health emergency, LeadingAge has advocated to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on changes to COVID reporting requirements. In the past, we successfully identified streamlining of National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) data elements and advocated for changes to enforcement.

On the CMS/Associations “small call” on February 28, LeadingAge once again voiced concerns from members suggesting that NHSN reporting and family/resident notification requirements could be reevaluated with the upcoming termination of the public health emergency. CMS agreed but was unable to comment on whether any changes to requirements will be made. Our concerns were heard and we are working with CDC to identify opportunities to streamline reporting and/or eliminate unnecessary data elements or requirements.