Infection Control Advocate and Resident Education (ICARE)

In 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made major revisions to the regulatory requirements to improve the safety and quality of care that would be implemented in three phases (2016-2019). This included major additions to the infection prevention and control (IPC) requirements for nursing homes (NHs), including the requirement of an enhanced IPC plan, an infection preventionist (IP), and the inclusion of the IP in the quality assessment and assurance committee. While NHs were expected to have these requirements in place by the end of 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed NHs and the healthcare system.