APIC Calls for Properly Trained Infection Prevention Expertise in All New York State Nursing Homes

NY Attorney General report on COVID-19 nursing home neglect demands immediate action

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) today called upon New York State nursing homes to immediately strengthen infection control programs by hiring a full-time infection preventionist in each facility.

APIC’s statement comes on the heels of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s report, Nursing Home Response to COVID-19 Pandemic, published January 30. The report details nursing homes’ lack of compliance with infection control protocols which put residents at risk for harm and contributed to the state’s more than 13,000 nursing home resident deaths from COVID-19.

The report calls out insufficient staffing levels that pre-dated the pandemic and were exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19. However, the report did not include the requirement for infection preventionists (IPs) at each facility. IPs are highly trained healthcare experts who specialize in reducing infection risk.

“While APIC applauds the New York Attorney General’s investigation and the effort to protect the elderly, a critical component of staffing was omitted from the report – the need for an infection preventionist at every facility,” said APIC 2021 President Ann Marie Pettis, BSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC, a New York State-based infection preventionist. “Without qualified infection control experts, known as infection preventionists, who are trained and certified to prevent infections, nursing homes will not have the ability to prevent COVID-19 deaths, or deaths from other infectious diseases including multidrug-resistant organisms.”

APIC calls on New York State Nursing homes to:

• Require a minimum of one full-time certified infection preventionist in each nursing home as has been called for by the CDC.
• Ensure that infection prevention personnel in nursing homes are trained and certified in their field of expertise.
• Require health departments to collect and publicly report data on infection rates and the number of certified infection preventionists in nursing homes.

Currently, the highly skilled job of infection preventionist often goes to someone as an “other duties as assigned” appointment, which can lead to tragic consequences during a pandemic.

“Attorney General James’s report properly calls out the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for rolling back infection prevention and control requirements included in their proposed regulation. However, New York can certainly put requirements in place to protect their own nursing home residents, and we call on them to do that,” said Pettis.

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is creating a safer world through the prevention of infection. APIC’s nearly 16,000 members develop and direct infection prevention and control programs that save lives and improve the bottom line for healthcare facilities. APIC advances its mission through patient safety, education, implementation science, competencies and certification, advocacy, and data standardization. Visit us at apic.org.