Challenges in Tracking and Reporting Antibiotic Use in Long-Term Care

The contemporary long-term care provider and interdisciplinary team are well aware of the recent focus on antibiotic use in their settings. Regulatory changes implemented by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services beginning in 2016 have required long-term care settings to look at antibiotic use in a more comprehensive way and to align their programs with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Core Elements for Antibiotic Stewardship for Nursing Homes. As long-term care settings have worked to develop antibiotic stewardship programs over the past several years, there have been many discoveries about the processes involved in gathering data about antibiotic use and associated attributes, including dose, duration of therapy, and indication for use.