AHCA/NCAL’s Infection Preventionist Specialized Training (IPCO) is recommended for individuals responsible for infection prevention and control in all long term care settings and is specifically tailored to train Infection Preventionists (IPs) in nursing facilities.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Requirements of Participation (ROP) include robust requirements related to skilled nursing facility (SNF) infection prevention and control programs. F880—Infection Control remains the #2 most frequent CMS citation. In addition, CMS has a special focus this year on F-Tag 882 covering infection preventionist training.
CMS mandates that nursing facilities have a designated and specially trained IP who is responsible for implementing a comprehensive infection prevention and control program. AHCA recommends that all nursing facilities train at least two clinical staff members to serve as IPs should one IP leave the facility or be unavailable. Additionally, CMS ROP guidance states that facilities should consider a backup IP when the primary IP is not available.
IPCO is provided for 24.5 ANCC contact hours and 24.5 NAB CEs for administrators. AHCA recognizes that many administrators will not have the clinical credentials needed to serve as a designated IP but recommends that administrators consider taking the course to gain a deeper understanding of infection prevention and control in the overall operation of a nursing facility as this remains a high target area for survey and liability.
The registration fee for IPCO is $450 for AHCA/NCAL members and $650 for non-members. Please note that there are no refunds and no registrant transfers. Registrants have one year to complete the course. Payment and registration are made online at ahcancalED. Discounted group purchase rates are available for groups of five or more by contacting educate@ahca.org.
More than 4,000 individuals have taken AHCA’s IPCO course and 98% of those recommend the training to others. While CDC/CMS does offer a free general infection prevention training course, AHCA’s IPCO training is far more comprehensive and includes updated information that is taught by experts with practical long term care clinical experience.
Members will need to login with their AHCA/NCAL usernames and passwords to register for IPCO. For assistance obtaining usernames and passwords, members should e-mail educate@ahca.org with their name and facility contact information.