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Outpatient Therapy

Grow Your Rehab Therapy Practice Using Paid Ads and Search Engine Marketing

When done right, paid advertising and search engine marketing are amazing tools to reach new patients and grow your business. By applying several basic tactics, you can start using powerful digital advertising platforms like Google and Facebook to target specific audiences and help ensure a steady flow of business for your practice. Click to View […]

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Hospice

Five Key Stressors Hospice Professionals Face, with Guidance for Support

Hospice professionals help others face death and loss, while juggling interdisciplinary communications, quality compliance regulations and ever-evolving technologies. You are continually there for families and their dear ones who are passing away. But what about you? Get the eBook In caregiving professions, it is easy to get swept up in the needs of others and forget […]

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Leadership

Net Health’s CIO discusses diversity and how it can build a stronger organization

Diversity in the workplace is an on-going issue but it’s an issue with solutions. To build diversity, it takes forward-thinking initiatives, a reexamination of the hiring philosophy, and the support of the company’s decision-makers.  One such supporter of diversity in the workplace is Net Health’s CIO, Jason “JJ” James.  Recent social movements like Black Lives […]

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Our Culture

Tough Questions | Real Answers: Net Health’s Fireside Chat about Race

Net Health did something different recently. Nearly two hundred employees and their families gathered around their computer screens to take part in a landmark event in our company’s history – we called it a “Fireside Chat about Race”.  The purpose of this event was to have a truly open conversation about the controversial but relevant […]

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SNF + Senior Living

Managing the Second Wave: COVID Emergency Prep for SNFs

November 23, 2020 by Net Health

Whether it’s an extended first wave or the cresting second wave that is now consuming the nation, there’s no doubt that case numbers are continuing to rise.1 This is especially concerning for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) since data collected during the pandemic makes it clear that mortality rates in care facilities are higher than state-level averages.2

As a result, SNFs are well-served tackling the task of proactive emergency preparation ASAP to ensure processes, people and prevention measures are in place to meet the challenges being faced right now. Here are a few suggestions we’ve assembled based on best practices we’ve observed with our clients.

Establish Organizational Frameworks

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “nursing home populations are at high risk of being affected by respiratory pathogens like COVID-19 and other pathogens.”3 As a result, the agency recommends the development of strong infection control programs (ICPs) to protect both residents and healthcare workers to help limit the spread.

The CDC specifically calls out the assignment of dedicated personnel to manage these on-site efforts, but frameworks may also include organizational tools such as SNF-specific software solutions that help personnel better manage facility-wide patient data. The CDC also recommends competency-based training of all healthcare personnel (HCP) to ensure they have the most up-to-date IPC knowledge and skills available.4

The COVID Infection Prevention Plan for SNFs

Get the latest stats on COVID, an overview of risk factors and steps to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

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Refine Testing Strategies

Testing is also critical for SNFs to effectively manage the second COVID wave. The CDC suggests initial, facility-wide testing to identify Coronavirus cases or clusters, followed by serial testing to help define cohorts and identify the origin of new cases to limit overall spread.5

In addition, the CDC recommends strategies for SNFs that include:

  • A plan to move COVID-positive residents to other facilities, if possible. Digital facility management tools may help streamline this process with data about available beds.6
  • Procedures to exclude COVID-positive SNF employees from work along with return-to-work processes. Real-time scheduling software and applications may assist with this effort.7
  • Daily testing of residents for fever along with self-reporting of any COVID-19 symptoms. Here, unified reporting procedures can help reduce the risk of missed daily assessments.8

Communicate Control Measures

Along with organizational frameworks and testing strategies, the CDC also points to source control measures as a way to limit the spread of second-wave COVID infections in SNFs.9 Specifically, the agency recommends that healthcare personnel wear facemasks — rather than cloth face coverings — at all times while in the facility. Residents, meanwhile, should wear masks whenever they leave their rooms, regardless of whether they remain in the facility or are leaving for outside medical appointments. 

SNFs must also consider the role of source control measures to help reduce the risk of external COVID transmission via approved visitors. While the CDC recommends that all visitors wear masks at all times, the agency also encourages SNFs to develop and communicate plans for visitor restrictions depending on the spread and severity of COVID-19 cases. Potential approaches include:

  • Sending letters or emails to residents’ families reiterating the need to stay home when sick or if they have any known exposure to COVID-19 positive individuals.10
  • Implementing technologies such as video- or teleconferencing to facilitate socially distant visitations.11
  • Posting clear signage at all entry points about facility expectations, such as the need for facemasks and symptom assessment from staff prior to visiting residents.12
  • Defining thresholds at which restrictions will change — such as a specific number of cases or the severity of case outcomes — and communicating these changes to residents’ families.13

Skilled nursing facilities face new challenges as COVID waves continue to ebb and flow. And while perfect infection control is impossible, proactive preparation of organizational frameworks, testing strategies and control measures can help improve SNF response. 

Transform SNF Workflows and Improve Quality at the Point of Care

Learn about SNF software solutions from Net Health.

Resources

1Time, “The Third Wave of COVID-19 in the U.S. Is Officially Worse Than the First Two,” October 25, 2020. 

2CDC, “Covid-19 Science Update,” October 2, 2020.

3-4CDC, “Preparing for COVID-19 in Nursing Homes,” June 25, 2020.

5-7CDC, “Performing Facility-wide SARS-COV-2 Testing in Nursing Homes,” May 19, 2020.

8CDC, “Testing Guidelines for Nursing Homes,” October 16, 2020.

9-13CDC, “Preparing for COVID-19 in Nursing Homes,” June 25, 2020.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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