National Nursing Home COVID-19 Safety Program
Enroll Today by Completing the Participation Form
As part of CMS recently announced $5 billion investment package for skilled nursing facility, $250 million of this funding will be allocated for the National Nursing Home COVID-19 Safety Program led by Project ECHO. The MSCA/HSL Command Center is participating in this CMS funded initiative by establishing local learning hubs.
The National Nursing Home COVID-19 Safety Program is a free program for participating nursing facilities and will provide financial incentives to participants as well as position nursing homes to meet the $2 billion in Infection Control Value Based payments that are anticipated to take effect during September 2020 – December 2020. Most importantly, the purpose of the program is to rapidly assist nursing homes to develop the capabilities to consistently implement evidence-based best practices to achieve five goals:
- Prevent COVID-19 from entering nursing homes via staff, visitors, and patients.
- Prevent the spread of the virus among patients, staff, and visitors once it enters a nursing home.
- Provide care and treatment for patients who test positive for COVID-19.
- Protect staff from infection and provide safety measures to help staff build confidence in their work, feel safe from infection, and keep working at the nursing home.
- Ensure patients who are infected with COVID-19 can safely receive visitors.
There are 4 phases of program participation for nursing homes that participate in the National Nursing Home COVID-19 Safety Program:
- Phase 1: Webinar Phase: The ECHO Institute and IHI will lead a series of three webinars that are targeted for participating nursing homes. All three programs will be repeated available online for asynchronous viewing.
- Phase 2 & 3: 16-Week Boot Camp and Consolidation Phase: Participating nursing homes will be required to attend weekly 90-minute Tele-ECHO sessions.
- Phase 4: 36-Week Office Hours Phase: Weekly 90-minute Tele-ECHO office hour sessions for participating nursing homes. Nursing home participation is voluntary. These weekly office hour sessions will run until the completion the program in September 2021.
If you are interesting in enrolling your facility in the National Nursing Home COVID-19 Safety Program led by the MSCA/HSL Command Center, please complete the Participation Form ASAP. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Chen at jchen@maseniorcare.org.