NHSN Changes for SNF Reporting Now in Effect

The NHSN Vaccination Team hosted a webinar on September 24, 2024, to review changes to the surveillance definition of up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and the new, combined respiratory pathogen vaccination, case, and hospitalization form for long-term care residents.
The changes went into effect the first week of reporting for Quarter 4 of 2024 (September 30, 2024 – October 6, 2024). A summary of the key points can be found below along with registration information for upcoming webinar dates.
Up to Date Definition Changes for COVID-19
- Beginning September 30, 2024, individuals are considered up to date (question 2a) if they have received a dose of the 2024-2025 updated COVID-19 vaccine.
- Note: For questions about cases and up to date status (question 3a) as well as hospitalizations and up to date status (question 4a), residents would need to receive the vaccine 14 days or more before the positive test to be included.
- Under the new recommendations, most individuals will not be up to date with COVID-19 vaccines until they receive the 2024-2025 updated COVID-19 vaccine.
- Facilities should report zero (0) up to date until individuals receive the 2024-2025 updated COVID-19 vaccine.
- The surveillance definition of up to date for each quarter can be found here: Understanding Key Terms and Up to Date Vaccination (cdc.gov).
New Combined Respiratory Pathogens Form for Residents
- Beginning September 30, 2024, facilities will report Respiratory Pathogen vaccination, case, and hospitalization data on a newly combined reporting form.
- COVID-19 vaccination, case, and hospitalization reporting are required while flu and RSV reporting remain optional.
- Facilities that choose not to collect and report Influenza and RSV vaccination, case, or hospitalization data should leave the fields blank on the combined form. Please do not enter zero (0) if you are not collecting and reporting these data.
- Users will continue to report cumulative vaccination coverage, meaning the number of individuals who ever received a certain vaccine.
- Users will continue to report new cases and hospitalizations that occurred during the week of data collection.
- Facilities will no longer be able to enter data for dates after September 30, 2024 into the COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens Surveillance Pathways.
Weekly Reporting
Users should report data for the week corresponding to the reporting week on the calendar view. For example, to report data for the week of 9/30/2024 – 10/6/2024, select the reporting week labeled 9/30/2024 – 10/6/2024. This reporting would include all new cases and hospitalizations that occurred during the reporting week, and the vaccination status of all residents in the facility that week.
The old forms will still be available to report data for weeks before September 30, 2024. For example, facilities can report data for the week of 9/23/2024 -9/29/2024 using the old forms on 9/30/24. In other words, when you log into the application on 9/30/2024, you can select the reporting week of 9/23/2024 – 9/29/2024 and report data for that week using the previous (old) forms. The prior forms will not be available to use for reporting weeks after September 30, 2024.
Person-level Reporting
Facilities are still able to report COVID-19 vaccination data using the person-level form.
Please use NHSN-ServiceNow to submit questions to the NHSN Help Desk. The new portal can be accessed here and should be used in place of [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. ServiceNow will help the NHSN team respond to your questions faster. Users will be authenticated using CDC’s Secure Access Management Services (SAMS), the same way you access NHSN. If you do not have a SAMS login, or are unable to access ServiceNow, you can still e-mail the NHSN Help Desk at [email protected].
Webinar Dates and Registration can this be organized differently?
Topic: LTCF Respiratory Pathogens Module: Updates to Resident Data Collection Form and Up to Date Definition for Weekly COVID-19 Vaccination Data Reporting of Healthcare Personnel and Residents
When: October 9, 2024 1:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) (Webinar Replay)
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://cdc.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_Ed-FwIvxSYCawvm5qGxL_Q
Topic: NHSN Person-Level Vaccination Forms: Quarter 4 2024 Updates for Long-Term Care Facilities
When: October 16, 2024 1:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) (Webinar Replay)
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://cdc.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_zDL7rE6gSb2ESacv2bxvYA
After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing information about joining the webinar.