LTCF COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens Module

CDC’s NHSN provides healthcare facilities, such as long-term care facilities (LTCFs), with a secure reporting platform for reporting outcomes and process measures in a systematic way. Reported data are immediately available for use in strengthening local and national surveillance, monitoring trends in infection rates, assisting in identifying resource insecurities, and informing progress toward infection prevention goals.

The NHSN Long-term Care Facility Component supports the nation’s COVID-19 response through the LTCF COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens Module. Facilities eligible to report data to NHSN’s LTCF COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens Module include nursing homes/skilled nursing, Intermediate Care Facilities for individuals with Intellectual disability (ICF/ID), and assisted living facilities.

Data reported into the LTCF COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens Module Surveillance Reporting Pathways facilitate assessment of the impact of COVID-19 and other Respiratory Pathogens through facility reported surveillance data. Examples of data reported in the pathways include:

• Counts of residents newly positive for COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens based on viral test results.
• Counts of facility personnel newly positive for COVID-19 based on viral results.
• COVID-19 vaccination status of residents newly positive for COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens.
• Hospitalizations among residents with a newly positive COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens viral test result.
• COVID-19 related death counts among residents.

The Point-of-Care (POC) Test Reporting Tool is a separate reporting option for LTCFs to report SARS-CoV-2 test results provided by a POC device. NHSN routes reported POC laboratory test result data to the public health agency at the local or state level with jurisdictional authority and responsibility for receiving those data. Important: the reporting of POC test result data in this tool does not take the place of answering POC related questions in the Resident Impact and Facility Capacity surveillance reporting pathway.

Weekly reporting of COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens Vaccination data for residents and healthcare personnel is another option available to LTCFs. Additional information about surveillance and vaccination reporting, please visit the Weekly HCP & Resident COVID-19 Vaccination webpage.

LTCF data submission options include manual data entry, CSV file submission by individual facilities or bulk CSV file upload for multiple facilities, and/or NHSN DIRECT CDA Automation for the Point-of-Care (POC) Test Reporting Tool. Information about the Direct protocol can be found here. Send questions to NHSNCDA@CDC.GOV with Subject line “Direct Submissions for POC data.”

For additional information about the LTCF COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens Module, reporting options, data collection forms, form instructions, archived and upcoming trainings, and future updates, please review the resources on this page.