In this Issue

Register for Upcoming Give the Boost a Shot Events *ANCC Contact Hours Awarded*

• Thursday, October 20, 2022 from 2:00-3pm ET/ 1:00-2pm CT: NHSN Shop Talk - REGISTER
• Thursday, October 27, 2022 *at a different time this week only* 12:00-12:45pm ET/ 1:00-1:45pm CT: Click. Click...How many clicks does it take to find accurate information on COVID Vaccines? REGISTER
• Boost events are continuing this fall! We want to hear from you on topics!

• Mental Health Bulletin Board
• Has your facility been successful in achieving your goals for your resident’s booster rates? Please share how you achieved success, helping to spread success by sharing with your peers!

• CDC Updates Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for U.S. Healthcare Settings
• Understanding Exposure Risks
• Updated COVID-19 vaccines are now available to provide increased protection against the currently circulating Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants
• Many adults in U.S. know little to nothing about updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters, survey finds​​​​
• Incidence of Severe COVID-19 Illness Following Vaccination and Booster With BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, and Ad26.COV2.S Vaccines
• Association of Primary and Booster Vaccination and Prior Infection With SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Severe COVID-19 Outcomes
• Odds of Hospitalization for COVID-19 After 3 vs 2 Doses of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine by Time Since Booster DoseCDC Recommends the First Updated COVID-19 Booster
• Know Your COVID-19 Community Level

• *New Videos* Take 5 for Immunization Best Practices and Best Practices to Integrate Immunizations into Your QAPI Program
• Your Safe Visitor Policy and Cohorting plans
• Understanding How COVID-19 Vaccines Work
• When to Get Tested for COVID-19
• COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation Calculator
• The Adult Vaccine Assessment Tool
• Flyer: Visitor Talking Points
• Poster: Attention Vistors
• Poster: Why I Got Vaccinated
• Click HERE or visit https://bit.ly/GiveTheBoostAShot to download helpful resources and materials.

Check in: How are we doing? Are you finding the events and materials helpful?

• Please click here to share feedback with us

Latest Guidance/Updates

• CDC Updates Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for U.S. Healthcare Settings
  • CDC updated its infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance for U.S. healthcare settings on September 23 to reflect the high levels of vaccine- and infection-induced immunity and the availability of effective treatments and prevention tools. The update provides additional protection measures for patients and healthcare workers, especially in hospitals and nursing homes, where COVID-19 is more likely to spread quickly or cause severe disease if introduced.
  • CDC recommends healthcare facilities reference updated Community Transmission metrics on a weekly basis to inform facility-level actions. Community Transmission remains the metric used to guide select actions in healthcare settings, which is different than the COVID-19 Community Levels used for non-healthcare settings. Community Transmission is used to allow for earlier intervention, before there is strain on the healthcare system, and better protect the individuals seeking medical care in these settings.  
  • Learn more:
    • Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Healthcare Personnel During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
    • Interim Guidance for Managing Healthcare Personnel with SARS-CoV-2 Infection or Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 | CDC
    • Strategies to Mitigate Healthcare Personnel Staffing Shortages | CDC
• Understanding Exposure Risks
  • Exposure time is longer. Contact longer than 15 minutes is more likely to result in transmission than two minutes of contact.
  • A person is coughing, singing, shouting, or breathing heavily due to exertion.
  • You are around people who are symptomatic.
  • You are close to someone who is infected with COVID-19. Crowded settings can increase your chances of being close to someone with COVID-19.
  • Risk of transmission is decreased when:
    • One person is wearing a mask.
    • If both people are wearing masks, the risk is substantially decreased.
    • Activities are outdoors.
  • If you were around a person with COVID-19, consider these factors to help determine the likelihood that you were infected. Risk of transmission is increased when:
• Important: Updated COVID-19 vaccines are now available to provide increased protection against the currently circulating Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
  If it has been at least 2 months since you completed your COVID-19 primary series or had your last booster, then you are eligible for an updated vaccine. As with other diseases, you're protected best from COVID-19 when you stay up to date with the recommended vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting people from getting seriously ill. Read More
• Many adults in U.S. know little to nothing about updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters, survey finds
  • The New York Times (9/30, Hoffman) reported federal authorities authorized the updated bivalent COVID-19 boosters “at the end of August, but by mid- to late September, nearly half of adults had heard little or nothing about it, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, based on the latest of its monthly surveys about attitudes toward the COVID vaccines.” People aged 65 and older “displayed the broadest awareness of the new booster, the survey found, with almost half reporting either having already received the new dose or aiming to get it ‘as soon as possible.’”
  • Reuters (9/30, Erman) reported that “around two-thirds of adults in the United States do not plan to get” the updated boosters, while “only a third of adults polled said they either already received the updated shots or plan to get the booster as soon as possible, the poll found.” 
• Incidence of Severe COVID-19 Illness Following Vaccination and Booster With BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, and Ad26.COV2.S Vaccines
  In a US cohort of patients receiving care at Veterans Health Administration facilities during a period of Delta and Omicron variant predominance, there was a low incidence of hospitalization with COVID-19 pneumonia or death following vaccination and booster with any of BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, or Ad26.COV2.S vaccines. Read More
• Association of Primary and Booster Vaccination and Prior Infection With SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Severe COVID-19 Outcomes
  Receipt of primary COVID-19 vaccine series compared with being unvaccinated, receipt of boosters compared with primary vaccination, and prior infection compared with no prior infection were all significantly associated with lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (including Omicron) and resulting hospitalization and death. The associated protection waned over time, especially against infection. Read More
• Odds of Hospitalization for COVID-19 After 3 vs 2 Doses of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine by Time Since Booster Dose
  Studies comparing COVID-19 rates among boosted individuals vs unvaccinated individuals have found 55% to 99% lower odds of COVID-19 among those who are boosted. By matching cases with controls based on the date of second mRNA dose, this study was able to measure the added benefit of a booster dose to the primary series. This study’s findings are similar to the hazard ratio of 0.48 for hospitalization for COVID-19 associated with boosters that was found in a study with shorter follow-up. Read More
• Know Your COVID-19 Community Level 
  CDC's COVID-19 Community Levels are a tool to help communities decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest data. Levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area. COVID-19 County Check

Materials & Resources

​​​​​​ Video Playlist with Swati Gaur, MD, MBA, CMD, AGSF, Medical Director, Post Acute Care, Northeast Georgia Health System and Jeremy Bischoff, LHNA, BS, Quality Improvement Initiative Advisor at Alliant Health Solutions.

• These short videos cover some of the frequently asked questions and common concerns we've from nursing homes across the states we serve related COVID-19 and vaccination. These videos provide quick, to-the-point information and advice to tackle questions and concerns. We will update the list of modules each week! Watch them here.
  • Take 5: Therapeutics - watch
  • Take 5: BA5 Variants - watch
  • Take 5: Strategies Moving Forward - watch
  • Take 5: Pivot not Pause (holidays are approaching) - watch
  • Take 5: New Bivalent Boosters - Everything you need to know - watch
  • **NEW** Take 5: Immunization Best Practices - watch
  • **NEW** Take 5: Best Practices to Integrate Immunizations into Your QAPI Program - watch
• Your Safe Visitor Policy and Cohorting plans
  CMS requested Alliant Health Solutions, your QIN-QIO, to work with nursing homes to understand emerging healthcare needs in the skilled nursing facility and ensure plans addressing safe visitors and cohorting are in place to achieve and maintain health quality and equity. Over the next several months, Alliant Health Solutions will be reaching out to your nursing homes via phone and email to answer two quick questions:
  • Does your facility have a formal Cohorting plan?
  • Does your facility have a formal Safe Visitor Policy?
• Theater for Vaccine Hesitancy—Setting the Stage for Difficult Conversations
  With almost one-quarter of Americans unwilling to get immunized with available COVID-19 vaccines, vaccine hesitancy remains a substantial obstacle to controlling the coronavirus pandemic. This essay describes our experience with a Theater for Vaccine Hesitancy training program that uses improvisational theater techniques to help health care workers have collaborative conversations with unvaccinated patients about the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination. Read More
• Understanding How COVID-19 Vaccines Work
  This website page provides resources and information about how vaccines work. Visit Website
• When to Get Tested for COVID-19: The Coronavirus Self-Checker is an interactive clinical assessment tool that can help you decide when to seek testing or medical care if you think you have COVID-19 or have come into close contact with someone who has COVID-19.
• COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation Calculator: CDC’s COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation calculator takes the stress out of deciding when, and for how long, people with COVID-19 and close contacts need to stay home, get tested, and wear a well-fitting mask.
• The Adult Vaccine Assessment Tool: CDC’s Adult Vaccine Quiz helps you create a list of vaccines you may need based on your age, health conditions, and more. Click here to take the quiz now!
• Flyer: Visitor Talking Points: This one-page flyer outlines how to talk to visitors about ensuring the safety of nursing home residents and staff while visiting. Download 
• Poster: Attention Visitors: This poster outlines practices to help visitors keep nursing homes residents and staff safe. Download 
• Poster: COVID-19 Vaccine Booster: Why Should I Get Boosted? Download | In Spanish
• Click HERE or visit https://bit.ly/GiveTheBoostAShot to download helpful resources and materials.

About the Give the Shot a Boost Program

Alliant Health Solutions received a direct change order from CMS to provide support to nursing homes to help accelerate resident vaccination rates. This intensive program includes the following services and activities:

• Second Tuesday: You will receive a weekly email bulletin dedicated to this program with the latest updates and tools you can use to help increase vaccination and booster rates.
• Twice monthly educational events and dedicated time to ask questions.
• A dedicated website page with resources and materials.
• Access to experts in epidemiology, quality improvement, and infection control. 
  • Assistance Hotline: 1-888-519-4128
  • Email: Booster@allianthealth.org 

For more information about Alliant Health Solutions, visit the website: quality.allianthealth.org.

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