Medicare, Joint Commission Update Antimicrobial Stewardship Requirements

IDSA Provides Comments on the Updated Medicare Conditions of Participation

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized in September 2019 the updated Medicare Conditions of Participation for hospitals and critical access hospitals. These include provisions that require hospitals and CAHs to implement and maintain antimicrobial stewardship programs in order to receive payments from the Medicare program. IDSA provided comments on the development of interpretive guidance for stewardship programs at CMS’ request. Interpretive guidance is used by inspectors when determining if hospitals are meeting the required CoPs. The comments were prepared by a panel of IDSA members with expertise in antimicrobial stewardship.

The Joint Commission Creates Standards for Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Ambulatory Health Care Setting

The Joint Commission recently created standards for antimicrobial stewardship for ambulatory health care settings. The new standards, effective Jan. 1, are part of a years-long project to encourage stewardship in all health care settings. Ambulatory health care settings include organizations that provide medical and dental services, episodic care, occupational/worksite health, urgent/immediate care, or convenient care.  In developing the standards, The Joint Commission outlined elements of performance to include:

• Identifying an antimicrobial stewardship leader,
• Establishing an annual antimicrobial stewardship goal,
• Implementing evidence-based practice guidelines related to the antimicrobial stewardship goal,
• Providing clinical staff with educational resources related to the antimicrobial stewardship goal, and
• Collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to the antimicrobial stewardship goal.

For more information visit The Joint Commission website which includes a link to the requirements, rationale and references used to create the new standard.

Be sure to listen to IDSA’s podcast “Antimicrobial Stewardship: Updates that Impact You,” where experts in the field of ID who define and develop stewardship programs in a variety of practice settings discuss changes on the national level to antimicrobial stewardship including the new CoP requirement, the CDC’s revised Core Elements and resources available from IDSA to assist infectious diseases professionals in advancing stewardship in their institutions and practices. Learn what these changes at the national level mean and how to apply them in your practice.