MDS & CLINICAL NEWS TO USE
CMS suggests holding off on MDS 3.0 training until after the train-the-trainer sessions have been completed. The agency's Tom Dudley "strongly" encouraged providers to heed that advice during the Oct. 15, 2009, SNF/LTC Open Door Forum. Dudley also reassured ODF participants that CMS is planning to publish the MDS 3.0 data item set, data specs, and the RAI User's Manual by the end of October 2009. Delaying training until after the train-the-trainer training will "minimize any confusion as we transition from MDS 2.0 to 3.0," Dudley said. In addition to train-the-trainer sessions for states and state RAI coordinators in March 2010, CMS plans to host training for stakeholders, "such as the various industry provider representative groups and the like," added CMS' Mary Pratt. CMS has plans for Web-based training, as well. That will likely be ready the summer of 2010 and will be available on the Internet, said Pratt. And "there will be a number of satellite broadcasts starting probably the end of this year and into the spring and summer of next year," Pratt added. The information will be on the CMS list serve and its Web site. And CMS will be working with the associations to "get the word out," Pratt relayed. Are all your facility's residents up to date with their pneumococcal vaccinations? The answer has taken on new urgency now that the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has confirmed that bacterial lung infections and H1N1 flu make for a dangerous combination. To examine what role bacterial co-infection may be playing in the current H1N1 flu pandemic, CDC researchers looked at 77 postmortem lung specimens from patients who died this year from H1N1. "Evidence of concurrent bacterial infection was found in specimens from 22 (29 percent) of the 77 patients, including 10 caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus)," states the September 29 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The findings "underscore both the importance of pneumococcal vaccination for persons at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia and the need for early recognition of bacterial pneumonia in persons with influenza," according to the article (www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm58e0929a1.htm). For tips on boosting pneumococcal vaccinations in the nursing home, read the last issue of MDS Alert article (Vol. 7, No. 11).
