Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a rule change in August that modified the public health and clinical data exchange objectives by adding an antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance (AUR) measure that will be required to be implemented by the 2024 reporting period (with few exceptions). Please see Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System (PPS) Final Rule for more information.
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH), WSHA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hospital accrediting organizations and many professional organizations endorse antimicrobial stewardship as essential for patient safety. A core element of antimicrobial stewardship includes tracking, reporting, evaluating and optimizing antimicrobial use.
The CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (AUR) Module is the primary surveillance system for tracking antimicrobial use in all American hospitals. Nearly half of hospitals in Washington are currently reporting antibiotic use to CDC using this module. (Sandra Assasnik)
