CDC will release updates to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Healthcare Personnel (HCP) & Resident COVID-19 Vaccination module on May 30. Webinars on May 17 and May 19 trained providers on changes and offered an opportunity for questions. CDC had previously announced additional changes to the Long-Term Care Facility (LTCF) COVID-19 module but the release date for these changes is unclear after webinar trainings on the module were postponed.

Data elements in the module are being modified as the COVID-19 response changes. Both the healthcare personnel and the resident pathways will be streamlined to collect data in 3 essential categories: primary vaccination series, booster/additional doses, and up-to-date vaccination status. Breakdowns by vaccine manufacturer will be eliminated from both pathways and breakdown by staff type will be eliminated from the healthcare personnel pathway. Data elements related to vaccine supply will also be eliminated from both the healthcare personnel and resident pathways.

Providers entering data will need to pay particular attention to terminology, such as differentiating between booster doses and additional doses, and being clear on the current definition of “up to date”. CDC will include references to define these terms within the module and advises that providers should review the definition of “up to date” at least quarterly. Providers should also note that values entered on data element breakdown items will not always equal values entered into cumulative total data elements. For example, on the data element for additional and booster doses, providers will enter a cumulative total of all residents who have received either an additional or booster dose. However, in the data element breakdown, providers will enter values only for booster doses and should not include additional doses in the breakdown.

The webinar recording, associated slide deck, and updated forms will be available on the NHSN page of the CDC site in coming days. CDC also reminds providers to review the webinar recording on the new event-level vaccination forms. These forms require SAMS 3 access and collect data on the individual resident or healthcare personnel level to allow cumulative tracking of vaccination status and submission directly into NHSN. NHSN has recently updated the excel data tracking worksheets but reminds providers that these worksheets will be retired this month.